Had a presentation from an industry poultry veterinarian. Just found this little bit interesting.
Average Size of a Chicken House: about 44 ft x 400 ft
Average number of chickens per house: about 23k
Average Chickens/sq.ft : roughly 1.5
Now think how small a growing chicken is. Most chickens are taken to slaughter at between 4.5-6 lbs, so we aren't talking fully grown chickens either.
Until a very late stage of growth...that's really not that crowded at all.
Some other facts from a previous poultry industry class:
Houses are maintained at around 75 F and well ventilated to promote respiratory health and disease prevention
Steroids are NOT used in the chicken industry.
The industry has begun to slow the growth of the chickens and increase vit.D/Calcium intake in chicken diets to prevent bone-growth issues.
I'm definitely not saying the industry is perfect. But it's also no where near as horrible as people make it out to be.
Average Size of a Chicken House: about 44 ft x 400 ft
Average number of chickens per house: about 23k
Average Chickens/sq.ft : roughly 1.5
Now think how small a growing chicken is. Most chickens are taken to slaughter at between 4.5-6 lbs, so we aren't talking fully grown chickens either.
Until a very late stage of growth...that's really not that crowded at all.
Some other facts from a previous poultry industry class:
Houses are maintained at around 75 F and well ventilated to promote respiratory health and disease prevention
Steroids are NOT used in the chicken industry.
The industry has begun to slow the growth of the chickens and increase vit.D/Calcium intake in chicken diets to prevent bone-growth issues.
I'm definitely not saying the industry is perfect. But it's also no where near as horrible as people make it out to be.
Still Empress of the Poofy Purple Pillow Pile Palace!!
Continued Love of my Aussie <3
Continued Love of my Aussie <3
On "Chicken Crowding"
09/11/2009 06:09:38 PM
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um
09/11/2009 06:16:06 PM
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mk, some clarification
09/11/2009 06:33:17 PM
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you obviously have not seen the documentary "Food Inc" , please watch it *NM*
09/11/2009 08:09:28 PM
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This might help
10/11/2009 11:13:17 AM
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even just reading the fact check (what I did), that's pretty awful.
10/11/2009 03:07:39 PM
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Ya know...
09/11/2009 08:49:32 PM
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Which is great if you can only think in binary
09/11/2009 10:59:29 PM
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free range has a lot of issues people don't know about
09/11/2009 11:15:10 PM
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Indeed, it isn't perfect.
09/11/2009 11:31:36 PM
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i would pick the regulated one.
09/11/2009 11:32:50 PM
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Well that is a clear issue
09/11/2009 11:44:07 PM
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yeah
10/11/2009 02:16:19 AM
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the pain problem with the diesase management
10/11/2009 02:21:31 AM
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I suggest you shut the flock up.
10/11/2009 02:30:28 AM
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you are horrible
10/11/2009 02:37:15 AM
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flock-to-flock contamination is quite a problem if you're trying to not feed the birds antibiotics.
10/11/2009 02:59:10 AM
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Ummm...
10/11/2009 08:05:20 PM
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Some questions and comments:
09/11/2009 09:37:56 PM
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Re: Some questions and comments:
09/11/2009 11:07:32 PM
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Re: Some questions and comments:
09/11/2009 11:19:07 PM
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Dear meathead
09/11/2009 11:33:36 PM
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i was not referring specifically to you.
09/11/2009 11:35:01 PM
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Fair enough, I didn't realise you were making unrelated comments for no clear reason
09/11/2009 11:42:59 PM
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it was related to what you were saying about standards
09/11/2009 11:44:27 PM
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No, it was not related to what I was saying about chicken raising standards
10/11/2009 10:55:18 AM
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LOL, sorry sis, but the meathead thing was cute. Methinks I have a new nickname for my favoritest.
10/11/2009 12:43:08 AM
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*sigh*
09/11/2009 11:14:27 PM
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You should use the quote box thingy on the far right of the Smiley Codes, it would make it easier
10/11/2009 01:01:02 AM
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right on.
10/11/2009 05:20:48 PM
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we modified every domestic animal we have
10/11/2009 05:36:37 PM
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especially chickens. Chickens haven't even really ever lived in the wild...
15/11/2009 05:25:20 PM
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I know what you're trying to say, and I believe you.
10/11/2009 02:54:09 AM
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most domesticated animals don't eat what they'd "naturally" eat
10/11/2009 01:10:36 PM
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true. But I think at this point we are getting away from commercially raised and more towards pets.
10/11/2009 02:29:01 PM
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A full-grown chicken needs 4sq ft coop and 10 sq ft outside space...
15/11/2009 12:51:00 AM
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