Happy Egg Co.

[sophie_1003]

How free range are the chickens used by The Happy Egg Co.? I checked their website but it is very similar to the possibly meaningless waffle they use on the TV adverts?

[Buenchico]

See here:
http://www.viva.org.u...ickens/happy-eggs.htm

[sophie_1003]

As I suspected Chris; so sad; especially when we have truly happy hens in our back garden! Saying that; I would still eat both chicken and eggs.

[pleuni]

can anyone tell me what a happy hen is...?...surely it is one that is not over crowded...+has ease of access to food, water, perch? how can the happiness be measured??...if a hen being in the organised confines of a farm knows nothing else...as long as they get what they are used to or need - surely that it it's comfortable happiness?...being brought up in a farmed system would a hen be happy to be shoved out into the wilderness?

[sophie_1003]

pleuni; apply that to a child; if a child had been shut in one room all their lives and had food, water, care and education and didn't know anything else existed outside of that room would it be OK? Obviously we can't tell if animals are happy or not but it is used to mean well cared for and 'natural' in what is essentially a marketing ploy. As I said; I won't stop eating eggs and chicken but I still dislike the fact that chickens are treated in these ways.

[hc4361]

You can't compare a chicken to a child. Disney has a lot to answer for.

[ladybirder]

If pleuni reads chris's link, the answer is there. I buy my eggs from a local farm shop where I can see the chickens running around. I'd rather not buy eggs or chickens than buy battery ones.

[sophie_1003]

I'm not saying a chicken is the same as a child; just saying that "They don't know any different" shouldn't be used as an excuse for how animals on some farms are treated.

[pleuni]

....as far as I know chicken's don't have similar intelligence or ambition to humans...they bare no desires or development in likeness to a healthy functioning human child - comparison isn't relative? really the world for humans is vast and ambition is a virue to be hopefully nutured in realistic terms...but animals don't know anything outside their bounds.

[sophie_1003]

See my answer above pleuni

[pleuni]

yes was just acknowledging to you

[pleuni]

anyhow, a happy egg?!...an egg it is an inanimate object - how can an egg be happy??!!??

[boxtops]

I'm not intending to watch the video, but I do know that eggs from the Happy Egg Co do certainly taste very delicious, much nicer than other eggs we've bought in the past.

[sophie_1003]

Was just acknowledging what to me?
As I said 'happy' is used to replace 'looked after and natural'; it's a marketing ploy.

[pleuni]

Sophie: acknowledging that hens and children are different - probably in intelligence and ambition not comparable when considering realistic potential - hens really still in existance for food production when found in farming - whether industrial or pets

[pleuni]

I reckon the fresher the egg the better the taste and enjoyment....older eggs have bigger air-sack within shell so are more aged.

[hc4361]

Hens seem to have an incredibly short memory and will return to a danger area within a couple of minutes of being frightened of hurt.
An animal or bird in pain is wrong, but to believe a bird is unhappy because he lives an unnatural life is plain daft.
Dogs in the natural state live wild in packs, hunting for food. Is it cruel to keep a dog as a solitary house pet, feeding it chocolate that could kill it?

[sophie_1003]

I still think it's cruel to keep hens in such a confined space; and actually our hens produce lovely eggs which are yellower and fluffier than any we've had from the shops.

[pleuni]

...I'd have to agree, from good breeding (and intended for egg production) and home/small holding kept - thats the best for all....but those who can keep hens truely properly for pet farming are few and far between- when a full time or good industrial stocks person sees thousands a day they know what the animals are in need of/lacking before a major/fatal to the bird situation occurs - experts are better prepared and kinder in reality

[hc4361]

Surely it is far more important that the ALL of us can afford to buy eggs - a superb foodstuff, even the battery farmed has as much nutritional value as free range, organic, spoiled princess chicken eggs, although I do agree as to flavour.
Lovely jubly free range chickens fed on wholesome scraps from the kitchen and best quality chicken feed, living the life of riley are far too expensive and impossible to keep for mass production which this country needs.

I am pretty sure even a battery chicken is not sat squashed on her too small roost in her too full cage contemplating the life she should be living, full of resentment and yearning for a green orchard to peck around with one eye on the fox. I'd be very surprised if she has suicidal tendencies. A modern chicken doesn't live long enough to develop such a complex thought process.