Massacre of male chicks??

[kathyd]

**** WARNING! This video will be very distressing to most people.

I find this article bizarre - is it true that cockerels don't make for good eating? And how can you sex a chick so soon after hatching? Does the same thing happen in the UK?

Campaign to ban widespread killing of male chicks - The Connexion

[Tiny Allotment]

I remember seeing this on a Jamie Oliver show about chickens. The sorted the males and the females in front of the studio audience and killed all the males in front of their eyes. it was quite distressing but did open my eyes to what goes on when you turn animals into an industrial commodity.

The chick where blended up and used in processed food production if I remember correctly.

paul

[Nicos]

Just watched the video...I had no idea that happened.

I know some breeds have different colours with newly hatched males and females.

All meat is edible- even the tiny bantie meat is tasty.
Dreadful.
I think they are gassed in the UK?

[Scarlet]

I'm not watching the video but I know that hatcheries employ professionals to "vent" sex. It's not easy to do and can hurt the birds if done incorrectly.
As for eating all cockerels, you have meat birds or egg birds. Hybrids are bred for egg production, the males of these breeds really don't put much meat on their breast and would be far to costly to raise for meat. True meat birds can be slaughtered as little as 12 weeks old.

Personally I stick to the traditional breeds, the ones that are suitable for both eating and laying, though not quite as well as the hybrids.

[Guest]

It is quite scarey the amount that goes on and you never think about. To just be so blase killing (although lots weren't) and so many. I would like to think it is better in the UK but you never know.

Anyhoo - absolute cobblers about the meat is no good. I have cockeral for most new years as they are more meaty and flavoursome.

As Nicos said some breeds can be sexed at a day old (classed as an autosexing breed). Sometimes different colours, sometimes white spots on their heads.

[Nicos]

The chick where blended up and used in processed food production if I remember correctly.

paul

presumably not for human consumption???

[Scarlet]

Anyhoo - absolute cobblers about the meat is no good. I have cockeral for most new years as they are more meaty and flavoursome.

Not said in defence of the video but a bird reared at home for the table takes many weeks to get a small but "flavoursome" bird. Have you ever costed it? They don't come in cheap. I'm sure mine were coming in at £8 per bird more than 5 years ago. When peeps go to the supermarket they can buy 3 birds for a tenner as the meat birds are so quick to produce, they might lack flavour but no one seems to mind.

[veggiechicken]

I'm not going to watch the video.

About 30 years ago, as part of my job, I was taken out for the day by a MAFF egg inspector. He wanted me to see what egg production was all about so we visited an egg packing station, a hatchery, a small battery cage unit and a free range egg producer.

The hatchery reared colour linked poultry and I oohed and ahhed over the little chicks, emerging from the shells in a huge revolving incubator thing. Next up was seeing how the day-old chicks were treated, and the Inspector had timed our visit to be after the day's work was over so I didn't have to witness it. It was explained in graphic detail however.
Suffice to say that I stopped eating poultry and all other meat at about that time and haven't eaten any since. All eggs have been freerange and, as soon as I could, I kept my own chooks so I knew that they were treated kindly.

[kathyd]

Sorry everyone, I didn't think to put a warning about the video - I didn't watch it either, I can't deal with that kind of thing. I had no idea this went on, I'm horrified to be honest. I wonder whether it'd be a good or a bad thing if 'the public' knew more about it? I mean, we all like cheap food but do we all know the cost? I think our society is getting worse and worse - how can we claim there's not enough food for everyone and then wipe out chicks like this? At a local french market recently I was given some tiny little chicken legs to try. They must have been from chicks a few days old, unless they were from bantams or something... They were proving quite popular, and tasted lovely. Normally I'd hesitate to eat something so young, but if it meant less brainless waste? It's like the fishing quotas that cause millions of dead fish to be dumped, and male calves which are 'no use' - what are we doing??

[marchogaeth]

I'm not watching the video but I know that hatcheries employ professionals to "vent" sex. It's not easy to do and can hurt the birds if done incorrectly.
As for eating all cockerels, you have meat birds or egg birds. Hybrids are bred for egg production, the males of these breeds really don't put much meat on their breast and would be far to costly to raise for meat. True meat birds can be slaughtered as little as 12 weeks old.

Personally I stick to the traditional breeds, the ones that are suitable for both eating and laying, though not quite as well as the hybrids.

I would be saying the same as Scarlet. It's hard to defend these practices but I wonder how many people watched the Jamie Oliver video mentioned and took no action in their buying behaviour. This is what people who want change are up against. Most people on The Vine take an interest in where all their food comes from: most people don't even want to think about it. There are some really horrific videos of how chickens are captured for processing as meat - people watch - hate it and still eat chicken. I don't know what the answer is.

[Knight of Albion]

Thanks for highlighting a dirty secret the egg industry would much rather was quietly swept under the carpet.

No, there is no market or commercial use for male chicks, they don't lay eggs.

It depends on what part of the world you live in - the male chicks are either gassed or thrown live into a mincing machine. Even I've heard of chicks being emptied (alive) into a bin bag and left out with the trash.

The majority of the female chicks end up in battery farms.

Here is Animal Aid's expose on the modern egg industry (Note: Mostly text. A few photos, but nothing graphic.)
Animal Aid: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry

[Tiny Allotment]

The problem is we have been brainwashed to believe that cheap food is normal and normal food is an expensive luxury.

With food prices being so low the average person doesn't attach any value to the food and is more likely to waste a lot more of it.

If we take more time and a little more money to buy good quality, locally sourced food then cooking and eating becomes a pleasure again and food waste virtually disappears.

I doubt you would actually spend that much more overall

Paul

[Guest]

Not said in defence of the video but a bird reared at home for the table takes many weeks to get a small but "flavoursome" bird. Have you ever costed it? They don't come in cheap. I'm sure mine were coming in at £8 per bird more than 5 years ago. When peeps go to the supermarket they can buy 3 birds for a tenner as the meat birds are so quick to produce, they might lack flavour but no one seems to mind.

Like you said earlier it really depends on the breed and purpose. Before I kept my own, we had cockeral but it was more expensive and it was a treat. Also it is consumer habits we are all used to flavourless, bloodless and water filled chicken (yes I do eat it as well) and it does come down to it is the cheapest way to produce

[muddled]

It's hard to defend these practices but I wonder how many people watched the Jamie Oliver video mentioned and took no action in their buying behaviour. most people don't even want to think about it. (

I do agree, how could I not?
But I also think it can be difficult for people to make 'good' decisions around food...
(bear with me before you all hit the ceiling)

An example of what I mean;
A while back (I've not had a telly for years) there was a TV advert for an egg company with gleeful chickens playing outside in sandpits and one catching a lift on the back of the farmer's moped. Remember that one?
At the same time a video on the internet showed that same company housing thousands of hens in horrendous conditions, dead birds on the floor, filth, electrified feeders (to prevent birds perching on the rim) ammonia burns on feet and so on.
This company proudly carry the 'freedom food' logo.

I keep my own hens for eggs but every time I eat out, buy dried noodles and other foods from the supermarket, when my daughter eats her school dinner....I am supporting cruelty. I cannot believe what producers tell me.
Jamie and co say that free range means nothing...top birds keep the rest inside.
Barn eggs are no better than caged,
Natural on the packet means anything but.

How is your average, stressed out...maybe not the brightest....shopper supposed to find a way through all that?

[Tiny Allotment]

How is your average, stressed out...maybe not the brightest....shopper supposed to find a way through all that?

It is not easy but you have to vote with your feet. I am trying to move away from snoopermarkets (I refuse to call them super) and start buying basic food from the local farmers market, the local butcher, the baker, fish monger etc. If you can't keep chickens yourself for eggs and meat then find someone who does and buy from them.

If more people did this the world and our towns would be a far better place.

But I understand that this is not practical for everyone.

I would say though that I try not to buy things that have in ingredients. I try to buy ingredients.

paul