This post will both inspiring and depressing yet hopeful on the subject of sourcing free range eggs.
Let's start with the bad. Animals Australia has a campaign running to stop large egg producers from farming 'free range' hens who will be producing eggs without ever having seen the sun if new standards are introduced.
The Australian Egg Corporation Ltd, the egg industry body, is considering allowing farmers to run 20,000 hens per hectare, currently there is a voluntary standard of 1500 hens per hectare. The proposal is that hens will be kept indoors for the first 25 weeks of their life but will start producing at 18 weeks.
This is an example of my suspicion that farmers much like any businessman will farm animals to produce at the highest rate possible with little consideration for their welfare. Worse still they are happy to latch on to a well meaning term like "free range" and bend it to suit their business objectives. Thus taking advantage of the inherent misrepresentation. Look at the cartons of many eggs and you will see hens roaming in green fields even on cage eggs.
I think animal products should be packaged similarly to cigarette packets with graphic images of the conditions and environment that this product was derived from. I know I'd be happy to pay more for the eggs from content hens in rolling green fields than the featherless cage hens.
So now for a delightful tale of 'free range' egg farmers who not only truly have free range hens they house them in caravans and move the hens overnight to greener pastures. This delightful lifestyle ensures that the chicken manure fertilises the property evenly.
You can read the full article here:
Please support Animals Australia's campaign to regulate the free range egg industry.
http://www.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/save-free-range-eggs/
Chicken farms are attractive and profitable.
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