Ethical dilemma

Here is an animal ethics dilemma for you

There are three common ways eggs are produced for human consumption

Image Source: http://www.brightside.org.au/bloogoocms/asp/print_template.asp?articleID=430 

Battery

3 hens to a cramped cage, fed a measured diet.  As we know they develop all sorts of displacement activities but these can be maintained as specific pathogen free (eg free from salmonella). The pressure is on to ban this form of farming completely.



Source: http://thesolution.org.nz/2012/03/20/why-colony-cages-rather-than-barn-laid-eggs/

Barn eggs

These chickens are reared in a large barn - have nesting boxes, can move from one end to the other, and look happy and healthy in the one I have been in.  It is possible to have these as "specific pathogen free - eg free from salmonella which is an issue for eggs, but the birds are still inside and when you look at it from a birds eye view it looks cramped.

Image source: http://www.animal-voice.org/if-you-buy-buy-free-range/

Free Range

Great marketing, looks really great having them outside at least some of the time, the chickens look happy, they can forage and get there nutrition from a range of sources. This is certainly normal chicken environment and behaviour.  However they can't be maintained as specific pathogen free (eg salmonella contamination of eggs is more likely), they are more at risk of parasites and predation (depending on how they are free ranged) and the weather can impact on them if they are not provided with enough shelter.  Their production levels may be lower too as they utilise more energy foraging than producing.   


For meat chickens they are reared in barns (often on floors within a single barn), similar to barn egg production or free range. Similar issues apply and you can add campylobacter into the mix too which is a common meat contaminant.

Of course this isn't the full story -

If free range chickens are rotated around a farm and foillowed by sheep for example they are adding natural fertiliser and cleaning up parasites in front of sheep, which are cleaning up the chicken parasites for example. This is being done naturally without the use of transport (oil) to more the fertiliser made by chicken poo to where it is needed.

However it is fact that chickens reared indoors in cramped conditions are more efficient at converting feed to meat/egg production and therefore intensively reared chicken have a lower carbon footprint than free range, but at the cost of poorer animal welfare according to one reference I read.

This may vary when you look at using the chickens to fertilise land ahead of other stock and the source of the chicken meal fed to the chickens.

Barn eggs/chickens also have an advantage of being very efficient in terms of land use, and within barns it should be possible to harness any of the gases released and used for energy sources too and all waste can be collected and used for fertiliser.

The ethical contiuum

For all our student readers who have studied ethics, you will know that we all sit somewhere different on the ethical continuum, but that it important not to form you ethical opinion until you have got infomration about all sides.

Is animal welfare your primary concern, is it carbon footprint, or is it a combination?

The aim of this post is just to point out that what seems best or worst is not always that simple and we make the best decision we can make with the information we have.

Why not learn more about the brand of eggs you buy (and any of the food for that matter). Take a pasture to plate approach to eating. 

Read more about the farm and what they do and their philosophies - if its good they are bound to be on the web.  If its not they probably won't be. This might help you to make your decision.  If you can't find them - call them on the contact number provider on the box of eggs!

Maybe we should just all have our own backyard hens?

Look forward to your comments

Have a great weekend!

Francesca