When I was little, chicken was kind of a luxury {or so my mom tells me}, because it was expensive…really expensive. As I grew up, though, the price came down, and chicken was on the menu pretty frequently. According to an article on NPR, that price drop is because we have bred chickens to put on weight faster, with less food. The result is cheaper chicken for us, but the side effect is miserable chickens.
Apparently, through breeding, chickens put on weight at such a rapid rate, their bones and joints can’t take it. The chickens that are “lucky enough” to go to slaughter quickly, don’t suffer long. The chickens that are kept around for breeding have a little different story to tell, though. Once they hit a certain size, they have to be put on a very strict diet {their bodies simply cannot handle anymore weight gain} so they waddle around on sore legs, starving.
Companies like Whole Foods, and other animal rights activists, want to see slower-growing chickens hit the stores. The result would, of course, be less meat for more money. Whole foods has “announced that it wants all of its suppliers, even those raising large numbers of broilers indoors, to shift over to slower-growing breeds of chickens.” While our pocketbooks will suffer, the upside, they say, is that a slow-grower is more flavorful and packs a better health punch.
The National Chicken Council, advocates for “major poultry producers,” disagrees that the chickens are suffering, or that slow-growers are healthier. The Council points out that the breeding practices have “cut the cost of growing chickens, reduced the amount of land required to grow chicken feed, and made chicken the most popular meat in America.” A shift to slower-growing chickens would likely impact all three of those benefits.
As the HH and I have gotten older, we eat considerably less meat, so I am not really sure me weighing in {no pun intended} matters. I am super curious what all of YOU think, though. How much do you pay for a whole chicken now? Would you be willing to pay more? Would you eat less chicken if the price went up?
~Mavis
RebeccaW says
I would gladly pay more to prevent cruelty to chickens. I have watched documentaries about the inhumane conditions in which chickens are raised – – – an industrial environment that maximizes production and weight at the expense of the animals health and welfare.
Isabella says
Right now, I buy my chicken at Trader Joe, and it is delicious. I do not know how their chickens are raised, though. I think it says “minimally processed.” I have completely given up on the run-of-the-mill grocery store chickens. They are so overly injected with salt, fillers, who knows what. I can tell a big difference with Trader Joe’s poultry. The average chicken at TJ runs about 7 or 8 dollars, but I get a lot of mileage out of it–2 meals, broth, and sometimes enough for some lunchbox sandwiches. Not sure if I would want to go much higher than this on price since the quality suits me just fine.
Linda says
Mavis, Mother Earth News has had many articles over the last couple years, or longer, on the inhumane meat industry. Animals are raised for quick profit, on diets of grains grown from genetically modified foods loaded with round up, in very crowded conditions, causing much stress to the animals. I’m glad there is a movement towards organically grown foods. Right now it costs more to purchase those foods, but hopefully, that cost will come down as more people demand healthier foods for their money.
Lana says
These chickens would no be organic, though.
Leslie says
I think that people tend to forget why our agriculture animal operations got to where they are. At the heart of raising animals, is the given that healthy happy animals make the best meat products. Many of the practices that have been developed in raising chickens came to be as improved methods for the animal’s health and well-being, and making it easier for farmers to appropriately handle the animals. Of course, there is always the caveat of unprinicipled people operating in thoughtless, cheap, greedy ways. But being part of the agricultural community, and having grown up on a dairy farm, my experience is that these type of people are the minority.
I know that cage free eggs have been a big thing. But people who know about chickens understand the benefits of appropriately sized cages. The term pecking order came from the chicken world, folks. Chickens don’t love each other equally and will peck to a slow death a fellow chicken they don’t accept. Cages prevent that. If a chicken contracts a disease, cages prevent an epidemic from occurring. If a chicken has an injury, or symptoms of illness, a cage allows the farmer to observe this. A large flock can conceal problems until it is too late to save the animal. You don’t see every animal every day. Keeping chickens in cages was a practice that was seen as an improvement and a benefit in the progress of the industry, and this same type of progression has been experienced in many agricultural industries. People have forgotten that, and also have no comprehension of what it takes to feed the world. It takes a lot of chickens, cows, and pigs.
I think I can say confidently that animals suffer more in nature and the wild, than they do under a farmer’s care. Nature is not kind, and neither are animals when they are competing for food.
The assumption that chickens who are fed a special diet to keep them from gaining weight — note: not to lose weight — are starving is likely unfair. Also, I presume that breeders able to develop chickens that put on lots of weight also could develop a breed that has stronger legs. I love animals, and have no desire to see them suffer, and that’s the way we farmed. It’s really quite simple. Happy, healthy animals are more valuable than sickly, suffering ones. We spent our days keeping them happy & healthy.
Heather says
If you live in a wonderful HOA free neighborhood, you can grow your own chickens and have them processed. It brings farm to table to a whole different level. I would have a hard time giving them up, but I know many people do it. We raise our own beef, but chicken and pork I buy from a friend, so I know how it was treated.
Lana says
I don’t shop at Whole Foods and part of it is things like this. I feel like they play into the guilt about everything we eat these days to rake in the dollars. I have a friend who only shops at Whole Foods and her husband has to have a second job to cover extravagances like that. They would be better off eating rice and beans and having Dad at home in the evenings, but she believes every silly thing like this that she reads online. That said I buy whole chickens when they are on sale for $1 a pound where ever the deal happens to be. Unless you are buying organic I cannot see that it makes a difference.
Lilypad says
I’m glad you are writing about this, because more people should know how inhumanely these animals are treated. Not wanting to be a party to the factory farming system is one reason that I became a vegetarian 11 years ago.
Diana says
I think the more people know the truth about how animals are raised, the better their treatment will be. I have raised chickens since I was a little girl and have always loved watching them play and their personalities develop. I had one chicken that lived to fifteen! They are a great addition to the garden, and the eggs are so delicious unlike any you can find in a store. As a result I am a vegetarian, and grow most of the food I eat.
Elva Roy says
When I shop at my local Kroger’s, I sometimes buy their rotisserie chickens. They have two different sizes for sale. One is labeled “Colossal” and there is a lot more meat on that one and it costs $3 more (if I remember correctly). One time I did buy the “Colossal” size but then realized that it was “colossal” size because it was one of those chickens cross bred and fed antibiotics so the chicken breast grows so large the poor chicken can’t even walk without falling forward. Ugh! I pay more per lb. for the smaller chickens. And yes, I know the rotisserie chicken was likely marinated in some kind of chemicals to get rid of salmonella or e-coli, and in a salt bath. Most of the time I buy whole raw chickens but they’re not any better. Here’s an interesting article about why rotisserie chickens are so cheap. https://www.kcet.org/food/grocery-store-economics-why-are-rotisserie-chickens-so-cheap.
Renay says
I have been on a cleanse diet and the gal who wrote the book (The Fast Metabolism Diet by Haylie Pomroy) comes at it from a former agricultural perspective and how they fatten animals before slaughter. She says regular meat, as in non-organic, non grass fed beef, is really bad for you. I knew this and have been slowly changing over to better cuts of meat. Yes, it is more expensive, but so is health care. I would rather have a little less meat, but better for me and the animal.
Mrs. C. says
Me, too.
The animals suffer. Certain breeds put on weight so fast that they LIE DOWN and eat constantly from the feeder. Terrible.
Colette says
We have stopped eating meat as we’ve gotten older and thankfully my husband who was a total meat eater doesn’t even care
Mimi says
I’m all for slow-growing chickens even at a higher price. I live in a small town without many options for groceries and would rather skip meat and poultry altogether when it’s factory farmed. I’m shocked at the size of today’s chicken breasts compared to what I used to buy a decade or so ago. Bigger is not better, it’s creepy!
Stacey says
I have to agree on the creepy factor. We buy our chickens straight from a farm now. The size of the chicken breasts kept getting bigger and bigger and it actually started freaking me out.
lynne says
I’m fortunate enuf to get my chicken from a local farmer, who raises slow-growing, free range, chickens. The meat is a little dryer than your average grocery store chicken, but I brine it, and it helps considerably.
Diane says
I grew up on a farm and have had chickens off and on my whole life and in a order of chicks last year I added 10 cornish cross which is the same breed that the commercial growers use. I had heard about the way they are bred to eat themselves to death basically and read that some people had better experiences growing them, so I thought “what the heck, I will try it”…. never again…. I had them on a rationed feeding schedule that most people use and they acted like I was starving them to death even though they were eating 4 times the amount a “normal” chicken does! It was absolutely terrible! We had planned to butcher 2 at a time as they got up to size but wound up doing 2 the first time and then the other 8 at once just because I felt like they were suffering. I can’t imagine what the chickens in the commercial operations go through and I am not a tender hearted person about stuff like this but it was an eye opener for sure. Since then we eat very little chicken and I wish there was more options as far as the free range, slow grown chicken in more stores. I would absolutely pay more for it but living in the boonies like I do the nearest store that sells anything like that is over an hour away. Sorry for the lengthy comment but I feel pretty passionate about this
Pam F. says
You should try Freedom Rangers. They are a slower growing chicken that is delicious.
Diane says
Yeah I have heard of these, may have to give them a shot. Thanks!
Cristy says
So ok if the only difference is growth rate I don’t really see the benifits. Slow growers are just going to be in nasty big barns on medicated feed for longer. And if you have lived in or around large scale producers all you have to do is drive by a few chicken barns a few times to realizes they just throw dead birds out the door in piles. ( I’m sure they come back at some point to dispose properly) My point is slower growing birds in those conditions for longer are going to have a higher mortality rate. So in some rather unsavory way the poultry producers are right. I’m not sure that would make it where I would be willing to pay more for a bird in the store however, just by its self. Now if it was a heritage bird, raised in non-mass produced way, well we have that small health food stores or other means. I started raising mine, to be able to afford it.
Cheryl @ Living Design says
We get the majority of our meat through a co-op of local farms. All of the farms raise their animals humanely, and practice organic farming even if they are not certified (the irregular weather here on the Front Range combined with the high cost of certification means there are a lot of farms that are organic in everything but label most of the year). We typically pay about $13 for a whole chicken, but with just the two of us that typically lasts for at least 3 meals each, plus bone broth. I think it’s worth it to know I’m supporting humane treatment of animals.
Sharon says
I am all for slow growing, humanely raised meat. I have paid $17.00 for a whole chicken. I like knowing where my food is coming from and how it was raised. Try watching Food,Inc. see how feedlots and commercially raised animals are treated and what you are actually eating. In the past I have purchased 20 pounds Turkeys for Thanksgiving (storebrand). This past Thanksgiving we splurged on an organic, free-range turkey. Not cheap at all but the amount of meat (it was 17 pounds) was alot more yield and the taste was wonderful. We fed 9 of us that dinner with seconds for 5 men, yielded 3 more meals (for 3) and made 2 turkey pot pies from the leftovers. Yes it was way more expensive but we got more meat and less fat and water/broth than traditional store bought. Very much worth it. 🙂
Chelsey says
I would raise my own or do another white meat source.