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<p>It’s a cool, drizzly New Year’s Eve. Some of the hens have a found a dry spot to rest up on the wood pile. The <a href=”http://www.globalanimalpartnership.org” title=”Global Animal Partnership” target=”_blank”>Global Animal Partnership</a> has developed a 5-Step system of standards for raising farm animals. Their highest level, Step-5, allows up to 5.5 pounds of chicken per square foot. This basically means that all a farmer has to do to meet this highest standard, is provide 1 square foot of space per chicken. It’s hard to grasp how anyone would even think of keeping chicken so close together.</p>
<p>I’m sure the Global Animal Partnership means well, but when you read through their standards, in many ways, it seems that they are going out of their way to give good marks to chicken raised in rather deplorable conditions. So when you go to a store like Whole Foods and purchase chicken which passes the highest conditions of the Global Animal Partnership standards, it really doesn’t mean much. You are still buying chicken which has been raised in very crowded conditions, in flocks numbering the thousands and tens of thousands, and which have had very short lives. You are not buying chicken which enjoy life like those pictured at A Man and His Hoe.</p>
<p>When you think of it, for a store like Whole Foods, which needs to sell tens of thousands of chickens weekly, at a price most people are willing to pay, the farmers who have to meet those conditions have no choice but to crowd their chickens together and get those chickens to market weight in as short as time as possible.</p>
<p>Having mother hens raise those chicks a handful at a time, giving them acres of grassland and woods to raise those chicks, and letting those chicks experience the full range of complex chicken behavior, well all of that is out of the question.</p>
<p>Reading through the <a href=”http://www.globalanimalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/GAP-5-Step-Animal-Welfare-Standards-for-Chickens-Raised-for-Meat-v2.0.pdf” title=”GAP-5-Step-Animal-Welfare-Standards-for-Chickens-Raised-for-Meat-v2.0″ target=”_blank”>Global Animal Partnership’s 5‐Step® Animal Welfare Rating Standards for Chickens Raised for Meat</a>, you get a good idea of all of the problems regular chicken farmers face when raising chickens under crowded conditions. By reading all of the practices that are prohibited, you realize that many farmers use those prohibited practices.</p>
<p>For 2014, I wish that more people consider what it means that the meat they eat comes from animals which have had deplorable lives, and that they search out farmers like myself, who are committed to giving the chickens they raise, a most wonderful life.</p>
Roosters
We’re a week past the solstice and the roosters are getting active. For the peace of the flock, it’s time to thin out the number of roosters. Your typical chicken farmer only raises hens, however since I have hens hatch chicks, I need a good stock of roosters so the hens can lay fertile eggs.
Roosters come with many different personalities. Some are mellow, others aggressive. Some develop spurs which curve upward, which is good for the hens. The roosters which develop spurs which point downward can injure hens when they mount them. There are many things to consider when deciding which roosters to keep and which ones to put on the dinner table.
Chicks Love Having a Mother
During these dark winter days, it’s helpful to look back and be reminded of warm, sunny days. Mother hens provide a wonderful spot for chicks taking a rest. Some huddle underneath her, others around her, and some perch on her back. Every chick deserves a mother.
Late December Notes
You never see such beautiful eggs from an industrial chicken farm.
It’s almost time to call it a day. These chickens are taking a break from a day of foraging for food. Soon they’ll be in the chicken yard, high up on their roosts, settling in for a long, winter night.
Nine Day Old Chicks
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At nine days, the chicks are already adept at scratching and preening. The great thing about having a mother, is that she is always nearby for a warm place to rest. It’s late December and hovering around 40 degrees F, but with a mother nearby, the cool weather is just fine for these lucky chicks.
Seven Day Old Chicks
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The chicks are seven days old now. The mother has brought them out to feed with the other chickens. It’s a sunny, beautiful day today and she may take them outdoors today for the first time.
Six Day Old Chicks
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When a mother hen senses danger, she’ll spread her wings and puff up, doubling the size of her appearance. She starts showing this behavior even before her chicks hatch. While she is incubating her eggs, she’ll come off the next once a day to eat and drink. A brooding hen will often puff up around other chickens as if she is protecting a brood.
Five Day Old Chicks
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The chicks are five days old. I opened their nursery so their mother is free to take them wherever she wants. The next time you buy chicken ask your grocer, “Was this chicken raised by a mother?” Don’t worry about the blank stares you get from your grocer, or that this-customer-is-nuts look on their face. You are the one who is going to be putting that chicken in your mouth. You have a right to know everything about that chicken. You have a right to demand that chicken you eat has had a wonderful life. Call me crazy, but customers are not nearly demanding enough about the quality of food grocers sell.
Four Day Old Chicks
The chicks are four days old today and doing well. In a few more days, I’ll open the nursery so the mother can start taking them outside. Some mothers have their chicks outside right aways, others keep them close to the nursery for a week to 10 days before taking them outdoors. Each mother has her own chick-rearing style. In this age of making everything exactly the same, and turning food products into commodities to trade on mercantile exchanges, I’m taking the opposite approach. At A Man and His Hoe, no two chickens are ever the same. It’s impossible to lump them all together and treat them all the same. When you pick out a chicken in the supermarket, do you ever wonder if that chicken was a shy one, an adventurous one, a kind one, or a bossy one? There are all types of chickens. When you purchase one of my chickens, you can ask me what kind of personality the chicken had. I watch each chick as it grows. I can tell you which mother it had, and what mischief it got into.
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Three Day Old Chicks
After three days, we get a good look of the new chicks. They are off to a good start and before long, the hen will be taking them outdoors to find lots of good things to eat. Life can be very good for chicks on a farm.
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