A full-grown chicken needs 4sq ft coop and 10 sq ft outside space...
LaSombra Send a noteboard - 15/11/2009 12:51:00 AM
course, that's for home/happy layer chickens, which tend to be kept in the optimum standards...
Now, that's full-grown layer hens, which are around 6-8 lbs in weight, slightly larger than the young broilers, which grow really fast and, at 3 months of age are almost as big as a 6 month old of a standard breed.
If you have a bantam chicken, it needs 1/2 the square footage of a standard chicken. A bantam is smaller than a broiler so I don't see how 1.5 sq ft of space is not overcrowded, especially since they don't have any outside space to run around in.
I'm glad to hear they don't use growth hormones and that they're at least giving them some more calcium/vit D
I still feel sorry for these chickens, but then again, farm-raised chicken is damned expensive and I just can't afford it. I still eat chicken from the store. I love chicken. mmmm
Now, that's full-grown layer hens, which are around 6-8 lbs in weight, slightly larger than the young broilers, which grow really fast and, at 3 months of age are almost as big as a 6 month old of a standard breed.
If you have a bantam chicken, it needs 1/2 the square footage of a standard chicken. A bantam is smaller than a broiler so I don't see how 1.5 sq ft of space is not overcrowded, especially since they don't have any outside space to run around in.
I'm glad to hear they don't use growth hormones and that they're at least giving them some more calcium/vit D
I still feel sorry for these chickens, but then again, farm-raised chicken is damned expensive and I just can't afford it. I still eat chicken from the store. I love chicken. mmmm
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.
LaSombra
On "Chicken Crowding"
- 09/11/2009 06:09:38 PM
1041 Views
um
- 09/11/2009 06:16:06 PM
825 Views
mk, some clarification
- 09/11/2009 06:33:17 PM
755 Views
you obviously have not seen the documentary "Food Inc" , please watch it *NM*
- 09/11/2009 08:09:28 PM
395 Views
This might help
- 10/11/2009 11:13:17 AM
686 Views
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
668 Views
Which is great if you can only think in binary
- 09/11/2009 10:59:29 PM
617 Views
- 09/11/2009 10:59:29 PM
617 Views
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
639 Views
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
608 Views
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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- 10/11/2009 02:30:28 AM
793 Views
you are horrible
- 10/11/2009 02:37:15 AM
734 Views
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
690 Views
Ummm...
- 10/11/2009 08:05:20 PM
683 Views
Some questions and comments:
- 09/11/2009 09:37:56 PM
767 Views
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
701 Views
- 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
559 Views
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
619 Views
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
658 Views