I thought the future was free-range?
As well as pollution from our failing water companies our rivers and fields are full of animal effluents from industrial scale farming. And they are still building more.
"UK’s intensive farming hotspots have 79 times more chickens than people, data shows
Despite large poultry units being a key driver of river pollution, their number has soared near the Wye and Severn"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/19/uk-intensive-farming-hotspots-79-times-more-chickens-than-people-data-shows-river-pollution-wye-severn
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@marjolica they can call them free range if a part of the shed wall opens during the day so birds can go out if they choose - I suspect most don’t
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@JeniParsons these days most eggs are Free Range or Barn.
Total Market (Defra) 2023
Laying cage 23%
Free Range 64% (inc estimated 4% organic)
Barn 13%
Retail Sector (Kantar) 2023
Laying cage 20%
Free Range 74% (inc estimated 3% organic)
Barn 6%
The requirements for Free Range are:
"Free range egg production
The EU egg marketing regulation stipulates that for eggs to be termed 'free range', hens must have continuous daytime access to runs which are mainly covered with vegetation and a maximum stocking density of 2,500 birds per hectare. The hen house conditions for free range hens must comply with the regulations for birds kept in barn systems, with a maximum stocking density of 9 hens per square metre of useable area.
Hens must be provided with next boxes. Adequate perches, providing 15 centimetres of perch per hen, must also be provided. Litter must be provided, accounting for one-third of the ground surface - this is used for scratching and dust bathing.
Additional requirements of the Lion code
The Lion Quality Code of Practice stipulates the same additional standards for Lion Quality free range hens as for Lion Quality barn hens plus provision of outdoor shading in absence of a veranda and one pop-hole per 600 birds open for 8 hours daily to allow access to the outside; maximum flock size of 16,000 birds divided into colonies of 4,000 where flock size is over 6,000 birds in total; a maximum stocking density of 2,000 birds per hectare. The width and height of the popholes is greater than required by EU legislation."
https://www.egginfo.co.uk/egg-facts-and-figures/production/free-range-egg
Of course recently Free Range chickens were being kept indoors because of bird flu.
The industrial units in the Wye and Severn valleys mentioned in the Guardian article may, of course, be for meat not (just eggs) but seem to be much bigger than 16,000 mentioned in the lion Code section above: 250,000 in the latest factory being proposed.
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@marjolica thanks for the detail. A local farm has just gone into free range egg production with a huge automated system.
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@marjolica people aren't willing to (and cannot in the current climate) pay for organic, high welfare meat.
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@marjolica I had heard from a farmer that even with free range chickens some chickens would stop other chickens from getting outside as some sort of, excuse the pun, pecking order in social status of the birds. Maybe that is where the term pecking order comes from. Another farmer I talked to wouldn't eat farmed chicken as the birds where very young and killed and they were grown so fast. Does make the option for veggie a little more appealing.
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