It is great that Hugh has raised this issue to such a high profile but I am really concerned that he has inadvertently misled the public. "Free range" is not what it seems. Unfortunately most "free range" chickens lead just as miserable lives as the barn reared variety. The wonderful example of free range chickens that Hugh presented is not AT ALL typical of an average "free range" unit. The only way that you can be certain to get a chicken that has had the chance to live a happy life is to buy ORGANIC.
I wonder how many "free range" units Hugh has actually visited, but I am very concerned that he has been hoodwinked by the Industry by being shown the best possible example of a free range unit to get him on board; but this unit is certainly NOT REPRESENTATIVE of average free range units.The rules for allowing birds to be classified as free range have minumum standards but no obligatory optimum standards. Obviously most producers opt for the minimum standards because they are cheaper, but Hugh demonstrated a free range unit built to the highest standards possible. Average "Free range" birds certainly do not have as much room as this, they do not get toys to stimulate them or straw to comfort them and indeed most "free range" birds are force fed so intensively (just like barn reared in fact) that they become too fat and heavy to walk outside long before their "pop-holes" ever get opened. We can guarantee that the vast majority of supermarket "free range" chickens will have never seen the light of day, in fact their lives are not sufficiently better than barn reared birds to justify the extra expense, this extra cost is just extra profit for the producers - no wonder they are so keen to get Hugh on board by showing him a "Rolls Royce" development. We have been fighting the growth of this pseudo-free range industry for some time. In our area we are surrounded by "free range" chicken units which have mushroomed like an epidemic over recent years. If you come and look at these units you will never see a bird outside and inside the conditions look just the same as in Hugh's worst example. It is true that the initial stocking rate is less for "free range" units (13 birds per square metre instead of 17) but this still means that each bird has less than 1 sqare foot to itself. After a week or two it is difficult to tell them apart, I suspect because the mortality rate in the barn read chickens is higher so the final stocking rate in both systems is similar. Whatever the explanation the fact is that the "free range" chickens end up wedged shoulder to shoulder in their 9 inch square bit of space hardly able to move, let alone run around like Hugh's wonderful examples. for the first 4 weeks they are not allowed outside and during this time they are stuffed so intensively with food and growth additives that by the time the pop holes are opened at 4 weeks the birds are too fat and their legs too weak for them to walk outside, consequently the birds never come outside and planning inspectors comment on how nice and fresh and green the grass looks!!! Further proof that all is not always what it seems!!
The ONLY way to ensure that you get a bird that has been braught up naturally and led a happy life is to buy ORGANIC. Organic birds are not couped up in barns for any part of their life and they are free to forage for their food in the outside world just as they would do naturally, rather than being fed grain from hoppers in the barn as the free range birds were.
Thus I think it is great that Hugh has done something to try and improve the lot of the chicken, I am very sorry to have to say that I think he has done more harm than good. Because pseudo free range chickens are virtually barn reared, they don't cost a lot more than barn reared. By giving the pseudo free range industry this huge shot in the arm, people are going to rush out to buy free range birds at the expense of organic birds (the only truly natural option) because organic inevitably is more expensive than pseudo free range. Thus whilst the lot of chickens may be improved marginally and imperceptably en masse, a huge number of truly happy and naturally reared organic birds are going to lose out because people now think that "free range" is as good as organic. There is evidence of this on this Forum, as someone is actually asking if organic birds are as good as free range birds!!!!
Hugh please, please, please, you must act to redress the great harm you have unwittingly done - at least let people know that if "free range" is slightly better than barn reared you cannot beat the best which is Organic. It is clear that you care about the welfare of birds please don't let this misconception ultimately lead to more harm.
There`s birds all over the field - an occasionally risking life and limb by coming thru the hedgrows onto the main road. It`s a wonder I don`t see any road kill flattened choocks along that stretch of road.
******************************** John Smith: So what am I then? Nothing. I`m just a story.
Doctor: You`re an echo. That`s all. A TimeLord is so much more. A sum of knowledge; a code. A shared history. A shared suffering. Only it`s gone now, all of it. Gone forever.
