Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[bronze]

I've never had kfc except once I shared some fries with someone. Is it as bad as it looks?

[Guest]

I've never had kfc except once I shared some fries with someone. Is it as bad as it looks?

 

worse!

[chickencam]

I think Hayley was shown in the first programme when the chickens arrived wearing a paramedic uniform. I get the feeling that although opinionated, she is tough because she has had to be and she seems to be a good leader.

 

I am a bit of a s"Ooops, word censored!" by nature and have aggreed with a lot of the comments on here, but if you take a step back and look at the environment that some people are brought up in, the finger has to be pointed at our education system.

 

Education in a developed country should be of a standard that gives everyone a chance to move forward in life by learning new skills, and if those skills are not available at home then they should be taught in schools. Decent cookery and proper home economics lessons are needed to turn the obesety and debt problems in this country around. Much more important I think than the wishy washy PSHE lessons that they get.

[Tessa the Duchess]

Education in a developed country should be of a standard that gives everyone a chance to move forward in life by learning new skills, and if those skills are not available at home then they should be taught in schools. Decent cookery and proper home economics lessons are needed to turn the obesety and debt problems in this country around

 

I totally agree chickencam. Half the children leaving school today can barely read or write ok they find academic stuff boring but at least they should leave school knowing how to care for themselves and their future families, how to cook nice meals, how to budget, how to change a plug etc.,

I am quite a bit older than most of you here, we had 'cooking' and 'sewing' at school. My mum was a good plain cook and I learned everything about cooking from just watching her, she could make a left over joint of meat from Sunday last the whole week, rissoles, shepherds pie etc., although her idea of curry was to add a tin of Heinz curried beans to left over meat and heat it up bless her

 

Tessa

[Aunty e]

I watched this as well (with embroidery so I could hide my face when need be). I think for some of the people in the programme, they had just never really thought about where the chicken came from - and why would you? I got interested in chicken welfare when I started keeping my own chooks, and I don't remember it being on the radar before then really. And while I always try to make friends buy free range eggs, broiler chickens weren't something I thought of until fairly recently when I started rearing boys to eat. I've probably been buying the WORST kind of chicken, simply because I hadn't thought about it.

 

I can see why Hayley is digging her feet in, I hope she'll change her mind, but she might just be being stubborn. I was also shouting at the tv that she obviously had enough money to get obese, but I seem to remember my husband telling me that people on low incomes are more at risk of obesity because of the poor quality of the food they eat. Don't know if that's right, but if she's time-poor as well as money-poor, it can seem like a lot of effort to source or make decent food, and easier and cheaper to buy cheap, processed food. Don't agree with it, but I can see how it happens.

 

I'm probably a gladstonian liberal at heart, with a bit of a 'help those who help themselves' attitude a lot of the time, and I think providing the seeds of change can sometimes be all that is needed. Hugh has made them see they can do something different, and hopefully that nudge in the right direction will be all they need. It might even change their lives in completely different ways.

 

ps was also raised on a council estate by a single mum of five.

[The Dogmother]

I also learned old fashioned home economics Tessa and a lot of that has stuck with me and I take pride in being thrifty about the house. I can see that the rising price of food production (a lot of which is due to the escalating price of fuel) will lead to people having to learn a whole new set of domestic skills.... perhaps we should start teaching classes

 

I feel that Hayley has a chip on her shoulder and is very defensive - it's a comfort zone for her and she's happy there at the moment. Her time will come though, the trigger will be there and she will change too.

[Guest]

I think Hayley is very intelligent but has convinced herself she is in a situation which leaves her less fortunatel that others. I suspect she is unhappy and loney too. BUT she is a natural leader which she has shown throughout this and is a very tough cookie.

 

I bet she was actually mortified that she had to wear that "one size" suit which wouldn't do up but full of bravado and not showing it. I would have been!

[Olly]

very well put, Pengy - that describes her attitude exactly! She is closing her eyes and ears ... but I still think she will come round.

[myles]

I'll tell you something really sad. I don't know anybody else who's watching the program, it's all too easy to put your head in the sand.

 

I fear he's preaching to the converted

 

Anne

[Guest]

She is closing her eyes and ears ...

 

shame she doesn't close her mouth. I don't like her, she's loud and bolshy and not my type of person.

 

I hope she has a change of heart but it could all be 'for the camera' to make better TV.

[chickenlover]

I totally agree, it seems to me that she is just being a pain in the BEEP, like if she disagrees, she will be the only one and get more 'air time' any body with an ounce of common sense knows it not right for these chickens to be raised like this. I used to be a single mother ,and yes it is hard, and expensive BUT it can be done, how hard would it be to spend an extra £2 on an organic chicken instead of sweets/crisps ect in the supermarket. I let my 13 year old son stay up and watch the program with me last night and he was discusted at how these chickens are treated, infact he made me SOLEMLY swear that i will never ever buy a non free range chicken again. Also Myles i have also found that out of family and friends i am the only person that is watching the program aswell, but i go shopping with my mother and sister so next time they pick up one of those chickens i will make sure they know exactly where it came from, quite loudly in tescos, and if i know them like i should they will be shamed into putting it back

[Snowy]

I've just finished watching it (had to video it). I found it interesting that they were two different breeds of chicken. The free rangers could not have been kept in the intensive side and vice versa. The standard birds have had all their instincts to perch, scratch, jump, flap etc bred out of them. So all they do is eat. That in itself is inhumane.

 

Even if the free rangers never do get outside, they are a more 'natural' bird and will behave as such, whether indoors or out. Far better in my opinion.

 

I was interested in that bit as well........... it's not actually true!

 

They behave like that partly due to the breeding because they do get too heavy for their legs (and they have really thick legs!) but mostly because they are bored and have nothing to do.

 

So far, we have not been able to find the table birds we would like, and have been too squeamish to raise a Light Sussex type bird as they look too close to our layers, and the birds we buy are the same ones as the ones used in the broiler side. We grow them slowly. They are provided with food ad lib because they are bred to be hungry but we place the feed stations so that they have to walk to find food. Given the right conditions they do behave like free-range birds, they jump and run and scratch about and dust bathe. They are not the best birds for free-ranging but we grow ours up to the age of about 9 months. We can't let them go much further as their hearts stay small and will not, eventually, support a large bird.

 

Knowing this makes it difficult for me to watch the broiler house birds - bored out of their minds and eating because it is all there is for them to do

 

I'll post a photo later in the Good Life thread ( not the Good Life Section) so that you can see some of these broiler type birds enjoying themselves.

 

It was interesting to see the varying reactions last night. We lost signal because of the rain (Sky ) just as Hugh cooked an enormous risotto and we had to watch Ch4+1 to see what happened! I was pleasantl;y surprised to see that they enjoyed it and there appeared to be no adverse comments (well, only from Carl who doesn't like risotto )

 

Is it the last one tonigtht? - this one is the one which will cover the slaughter.

 

Ah, that was a bit unclear then. Thanks for explaining Lesley

[The Dogmother]

I had exactly the same conversation last night with Phil, Snowy, and he should know - he's a farm-boy! So it's not immediately obvious.

 

Tell you what though - the slow-grown meat has a much better flavour - you can almost taste the grass and fresh air.

[Rhapsody]

At least Hayley wasnt being hypocritical, she said she genuinely didnt care! I do get fed up with people who use 'single parent' as an excuse for everything, how insulting for the single parents who make the same tough choices every day but do so with grace and thought.

I watched the show with interest- it really did flag up the role of the supermarket in all this (cant wait for tonight's episode).

[The Dogmother]

I'm looking forward to it too Rhapsody. I'd love to see the supermarkets shamed.

 

I wonder what he will do with all those chooks he has reared... sell them?

[Snowy]

I'm looking forward to it too Rhapsody. I'd love to see the supermarkets shamed.

 

I wonder what he will do with all those chooks he has reared... sell them?

 

I've been wondering the same

[WitchHazel]

It's easy to pick on Hayley (and I was, in the comfort of my living room last night). However, if I take a step back there were a lot of eye opening things going on - not just with the way the chickens were reared.

 

From the top of my head:

 

-the lady who was buying a whole chicken, and only eating the breast, for example.

 

-the ladies in the canteen who were too scared to cook a real chicken. What a difference Hugh's visit made to them and their canteen. Just a bit of help to get them over their fear, and they were off roasting chickens and then using the leftovers for a second meal.

 

-the guy with the massive plate of chicken and an oxo cube.

 

I can't remember the others off hand.

 

I don't agree with Hayley, but in some ways I prefer her "that's the way it is" approach to those people who hide their heads in the sand. As another poster said, at least she's not hypocritical.

 

So let's not get personal about her, and let's not vilifyh her. She's not a paedophile or a mass murderer or a child abuser. She didn't starve all those horses to death (did you hear about that?) All she does is buy the same chicken that millions of other people buy.

 

She has her views, I have mine, you have yours. And I don't know. If I had grown up in her shoes, I might well have the same views as her.

Edited January 9, 2008 by Guest

[Egluntyne]

I was flabbergasted by the state of the art canteen, with very stylish furniture....and no cooking went on....just a few slices of bread buttered from what i could see.

[WitchHazel]

I was flabbergasted by the state of the art canteen, with very stylish furniture....and no cooking went on....just a few slices of bread buttered from what i could see.

 

And frozen omelettes heated in the Microwave.

[Egluntyne]

 

And frozen omelettes heated in the Microwave.

 

I'd never encountered a frozen omlette before....I am glad to say!

[The Dogmother]

It just didn't make sense at all, did it?

[WitchHazel]

I'd never encountered a frozen omlette before....I am glad to say!

 

I bet in real life it looks like something you'd buy in a jokeshop (you know, like the fried egg, dog turd, etc).

[Fabergé]

I'll tell you something really sad. I don't know anybody else who's watching the program, it's all too easy to put your head in the sand.

 

I fear he's preaching to the converted

 

Anne

 

I messaged my entire department about this programme, the Jamie Oliver one on Friday & made them read the article from Times online. Some of them have certainly been watching as we've had interesting discussions following each show.

 

I would say that most of them are already converts anyway but others were genuinely shocked/surprised at the non free range process. It's not that they don't care, but rather that it just hadn't really occurred to them to look too deeply into it before. These are the kind of people who will really make a difference if they change their shopping habits as I suspect this attitude probably applies to a large proportion of shoppers.

[Christian]

At work, I am know as that crazy chicken bloke!

 

Several people came up to me this morning and asked me if I was watching the programmes?

 

They were all watching it! OH did a flight today and the crew were discussing it in the galley! The word is being spread!!

[The Dogmother]

That's fantastic news Christian!

 

I just came across a great quote:

 

Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used