Which came first?

Just a few "nuggets" of info regarding chickens...and eggs. Wow, did I really just write that?

I've read a bit about eggs and the conditions that many chickens are raised in. And of course there was the almost overly informative Food Inc. If you haven't seen it yet, get thee to a video store, or put it on the top of your Netflix.

I've bought eggs at Rainbow market many times. They have a chart showing lots of info about the farms whose eggs they carry. It contains items like, organic feed, kept in cages, which are fairly obvious in their "goodness" and "badness" respectively. But then there are some things which aren't so obvious, like beak clipping. I realized I really don't know anything about it...and maybe it isn't such a bad thing. Anyway, I wanted to know more before passing judgement as almost all the egg producers do this (not that numbers make it right).

So one day last week I was looking at a couple of online organic grocery delivery sites and wanted to find out more about the egg, poultry and other meat products they carried. (Yes, for those of you who lived through the dot com/bomb era, they're trying grocery delivery again, with an organic spin this time.) I started looking up a bunch of farm and ranch sites...it was fascinating. Once the weather is better I'm going to go on few tours. Judy's was one of the sites I looked up, I've seen her eggs in several stores, and decided to send an email with some questions. A few days later I got a response...from Judy herself no less (at least that's what I'd like to believe).

My email:
I saw a chart recently that showed that you clip your chicken's beaks. I thought I would go to the source for this info rather than relying on someone else's chart.
Do you clip their beaks? If so, why? Is it because they are kept inside and get more agitated that way?
If they are kept inside in houses, how much room does the average chicken have? I have seen pictures, etc that show hen houses where they hardly have any room. I'd like to know about the conditions your chickens are kept in.
Thanks so much for your time.

"Her" response:
Steve,

We nip our chickens top beak at 8 days old. The veterinarian states it is no different than trimming a dogs nails. We do this because chickens are cannibalistic regardless of their living conditions. You can see them pecking on each other at one day old. We tried not doing it and lost too many to cannibalism. Our chickens enjoy large, open-sided barns with curtains. This allows natural sunlight in and we roll up curtains if the weather is too cold. The chickens are free to roam the building, nest, roost, or fly up in the rafters if they want. The chickens do not go outdoors because of the threat of disease from migratory birds, predators, and salmonella. Rodents are the number one carriers of salmonella. We are in the process of updating our website to include pictures of our ranch and chickens.

Judy 

I'll be interested to see the pictures they post. This sounds fairly reasonable, but would chickens have survived as a species if they killed each other off on a regular basis? Survival of the fittest is one thing. Now, are these the absolute best conditions chickens can be raised in? No. But it really doesn't sound bad. I say no, because of a couple other sites I saw. Marin Sun Farms is one that looks amazing. Check out this video...can you help but smile?

Which leads to my next step in chicken education...a chicken raising class. I just got my 18 Reasons (a local food group started by Bi-Rite Market) newsletter this morning. I bought a ticket for an informational session on raising chickens. Sould Food Farms is presenting...looks like they sell chicken and eggs at the Ferry Building and at several farmer's markets. I'll be very interested to hear what they have to say...and of course, I'll be asking my same questions about beak clipping. I think one of my next avenues of exploration and education will be the vendors at Farmer's Markets. I just don't trust some of them, so I'm going to start taking names and doing some research.

Some day I'd LOVE to have chickens. When I was home seeing my parents last week, I visited some friends from high school. They live outside of Salinas, basically on a Martha Stewart set. Their house/compound was amazing! Paul is a wood worker and has a huge workshop where he does beautiful work. Rori is a homemaker in the highest degree. She has a quilting and sewing studio off the house. She's going to be starting a business making quilted scarves out of scrap wool. The one she showed me was beautiful. (I'll let you know when you can order one.) And yes, they have a chicken coop. I know it would take work...and you'd have to clean up the shit...but it looks so fulfilling to go out and get fresh eggs and have chickens clucking around the yard. And they got along with the veritable herd of cats they have.

Who BUT someone unemployed has time to do all of this? I had been thinking about this before leaving Wells...it really seems like there is a void to be filled...for a company who can aggregate information about food, and farms, and food sites, etc., and actually put up some information and comparison so people can more easily decide what is important to them about the food they eat. I'd think they farms would be behind something like that. Hmmm...we'll see what comes of that idea...and please email me if you have any thoughts in that direction.

Do my chickens need to have gold plated roosts? Is it good for them to be outside all the time if they could be? And which DID come first...?