Robin's Outdoors

by Robin Follette
Copyright 2007

For years, we had meat-eating cattle. Cows are vegetarian. They don’t normally eat meat. Then someone somewhere along the way decided grinding up meat byproducts and feeding it to cattle was a good idea. Or perhaps they knew it was incredibly stupid and did it anyway. Who knows what they were thinking. Now we have grass-eating ruminants dying because they were fed meat. Mad cow disease. What a disaster that turned into. The government has made some changes in what we can feed ruminants, but this is, after all, the same government that allowed farmers to feed chicken litter (feathers, manure and bedding) to cattle. What’s wrong with feeding animals the foods they naturally eat? When did grass become a bad thing? I know the answer to that, but that’s not my main topic today.

This is really about chickens.

Paula showed me something that didn’t sit well with her. It is the label from a dozen chicken eggs from Born Free. Several misleading things caught my eye.

Born Free. I call BS. Vegetarian.

Born Free. How are these eggs “born free?” Not in price, of course, but in freedom. Replacement hens were probably incubated and hatched in incubators, not under their mothers. The hens that produced these eggs aren’t free. More on that in a sec. Born Free is owned by Radlo, in case you want to look them up online.

Naturally Raised. Chickens naturally go out on soil to scratch; they eat insects, seeds, worms, amphibians, rodents and anything else they can catch. Chickens do not naturally live in cages eating vegetarian food. The label says the dozen eggs that came in this plastic carton were produced by caged hens. Natural…how?

Vegetarian hens? Why? Chickens aren’t naturally vegetarians. Did you see the list of things they’ll eat if given a chance? I’m disturbed that folks can be so hell bent on taking natural living away from chickens. They’re chickens – let them be what they are!

The label also says Hens are Fed No Growth Hormones. I should hope not since that’s illegal. They weren’t raised on Viagra either. Why doesn’t the label say that? Because a lot of people think chickens are still raised on growth hormones but we all know hens don’t get Viagra. The label makes it seem like this company has chosen to avoid growth hormones, yet they didn’t have a choice at all. They haven’t chosen to do something good, they’ve chosen to mislead the public.

In spite of what I’ve said above, Born Free eggs probably come from farms much better than a lot of other egg farms. Some of Born Free hens are cage free. That doesn’t mean they’re going outside to live good lives. The photograph taken by John Patriquin for The Portland Press Harold shows hens in a building with artificial light. There’s very little room for the birds to move. This is better than living in a cage, but in my opinion, it’s still not acceptable. Where’s the freedom? These are Born Free eggs.

If you read the article in the link above you’ll find that it says chickens know there are predators outside so they don’t want to go out. They’re factory farmed chickens. HOW and WHAT do they know about predators beyond the human kind? I hope you’ll take the time to learn about factory farming and make informed decisions on what you determine to be acceptable ways of raising animals. I hope you won’t fall for lines such as this one pertaining to free ranging chickens having access to the outdoors but not going: “Most don’t. They are very squeamish birds; they’re very defenseless. They know they have predators out there.” Squeamish birds don’t run around with screaming frogs in their beaks, eventually killing and eating, or eating and killing, them. Squeamish birds don’t eat grasshoppers and ticks. Squeamish? Define that word, please. As for free range birds not going outside, that part’s true. To be labeled “free range” birds only have to have access to the outdoors. They don’t ever have to step foot outside and they don’t have to be on grass. They don’t even legally have to have adequate room for the flock outdoors. Thank you lawmakers, you’ve done one hell of a job on this one. Literally.

Why are we screwing things up so badly? Why is it so widely acceptable to raise living creatures in such artificial ways? Why can birds that never see the light of day or the blue sky be labeled free range?

If you never do anything to improve the state of the birds that produce your eggs and meat, please at least do one thing. Humor me on this. Shake your store bought egg. Does it rattle? Shake it again. Feel it? Hear it? Do you know how old that fresh egg is? Fresh eggs don’t rattle. The nutritive quality of an egg drops as eggs age. Do you really want to eat that?

Buy local. Eat fresh local foods. Chickens aren’t vegetarians and cows shouldn’t eat meat.