Here is a report from the Daily Mail Science Reporter. The report simply adds to the mounting evidence against free range being better for the chooks. Here is the report so you can judge for yourself.
Free-range hens 'are least healthy': Chickens more
likely to catch disease, get injured or die early than those kept in cages
- Eggs from free range hens now make up 45 per cent of the British market
- Recent regulations mean chicken houses are no longer tiny squalid cages
- ‘Supermarkets love free range because they make a bigger margin’ - vet
- 10% of ducks carry bird flu posing threat to chickens that is hard to control
Published: 09:00
AEST, 10 September 2014 | Updated: 13:12 AEST, 10 September 2014
Free range
chickens may not live the comfortable lives we have been led to believe,
according to a leading British vet.
Research shows
that chickens which are allowed to roam free are in fact more likely to catch
disease, get injured and die earlier than those kept in cages.
Eggs from free
range hens now make up 45 per cent of the British market – a huge increase from
just 1 per cent in 1980.
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Cluck happy... or
not: Chickens allowed to roam free in open fields in fact die sooner and are
much more likely to catch diseases
Supermarkets and
celebrity chefs would have us believe that free range chickens are happier,
healthier and live more natural lives than those in battery farms.
But chickens
allowed to roam free in open fields in fact die sooner and are much more likely
to catch diseases, according to Barry Thorp of the Royal School of Veterinary
Studies in Edinburgh.
They are also more
likely to break their bones because they have not been bred to survive an
outdoor life, he said.
Recent regulations
mean that chicken houses are no longer the tiny squalid cages they once were.
Dr Thorp, speaking
during a debate on chicken welfare at the British Science Festival in
Birmingham yesterday, said: ‘I think that for long-term sustainability, free
range systems do not work.
‘I’m certainly
very comfortable with buying eggs from furnished cages. I have no issues with
that at all.
‘I think free
range has some merits but it also has many problems as well. I don’t see it
having a long-term sustainability and that worries me.’
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Ten per cent of
ducks carry bird flu, posing a huge threat to chickens that is very hard to
control
Dr Thorp said the
boom in free range has been driven by the idea that chickens live better lives
– a message that has been amplified by large retailers.
‘Supermarkets love
free range because they can make a bigger margin,’ he said.
But chickens kept
in large fields are far more likely to pass diseases to each other and on to
wild birds and ducks.
He warned that the
increase in the number of free-range chickens raises the risk of a major
epidemic of bird flu.
‘We have been
lucky in this country that we haven’t had a major bird flu outbreak,’ he said.
Dr Thorp, a
specialised poultry vet, added: ‘Having a physical barrier between chickens
works – cages stop disease because if nothing goes between A and B, disease
does not travel between A and B.
‘When different
chickens and wild birds come into contact with each other and their droppings,
disease spreads.
‘As a vet I make
far more money from farmers who have got birds kept free range than those kept
in cages.’
The spread of
disease between chickens in fields and ducks in nearby rivers is a particular
risk, he said.
Ten per cent of
ducks carry bird flu, posing a huge threat to chickens that is very hard to
control.
Germany and
Holland have been very wary of free range systems because of the bird flu risk,
instead opting for barn rearing models in which chickens are easier to control.
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Germany and
Holland have been very wary of free range systems because of the bird flu risk,
instead opting for barn rearing models in which chickens are easier to control
Dr Victoria
Sandilands, of Scotland’s Rural College, said free range birds have a mortality
rate of 8 to 10 per cent, far higher than caged hens’ death rate of 2 to 4 per
cent.
Free range hens
are also twice as likely to have fractured bones as those kept in cages.
Cages are also far
better than they used to be, she said.
She added: ‘Ten
years ago cages used to have a wire floor with access to food and water but
nothing else.
‘From 2012 only
furnished or enriched cages have been permitted across the EU.’
Cages now have to
contain nesting areas, separated from the rest of the cage, with a ‘scratch
floor’, a perching area for every hen and more than seven square metres per
chicken.
As a vet I make far more money
from farmers who have got birds kept free range than those kept in cages
Barry Thorp of the Royal
School of Veterinary Studies
She told the
Birmingham audience: ‘Furnished cages provide a safe, clean environment, and
laying hens are generally physically healthy. The ability to perform many
natural behaviours has also improved greatly.’
Mia Fernyhough,
senior scientific officer at the RSPCA, admitted that free range farming
systems are far from ideal.
‘Free range is
more complex so it takes more careful management to do it well,’ she said.
‘There is
increased risk of mortality and increased risk of disease and injury.
‘But it can be
managed well. Free range has a much, much greater potential for higher welfare
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2749987/Free-range-hens-healthy-Chickens-likely-catch-disease-injured-die-early-kept-cages.html#ixzz3DGeryQEr
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2749987/Free-range-hens-healthy-Chickens-likely-catch-disease-injured-die-early-kept-cages.html#ixzz3DGeryQEr
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