Grow Your Own Magazine

After the fuss of Jamie and Hughs programmes, it appears the demand for organic chicken has waned somewhat http://www.riverfordmeatbox.co.uk/newsletter.html. The chicken producers mustn't know if they're coming or going.

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Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Michael Pollan

Sadly, I can believe it. For the most part the great British public forget everything all too easily unless the death-ray in the corner keeps reminding them on a daily basis.

Would it have anything to do with the prices going through the roof after all the publicity? Trying to cash in, or am I just a cynical so and so?

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When a woman says nothing's wrong, it means everything is wrong. When a woman says everything's wrong, everything is wrong. And when she says something isn't funny, you'd better not be laughing your a** off!!

http://hollandsroadparadise.blogspot.com
updated 14 May 2008
www.bradleyroundtwo.blogspot.com

Totally agree with you Kirsty!I'd say you're not being cynical but as I often get accused of the same......!Before the Jamie & HFW campaigns you could get a decent sized FR bird for less tha a fiver~you're lucky now to find one for less than £8!
Put on top of that the fact that general foodprices have gone through the roof it doesn't really surprise me!
There was also something on the radio earlier saying that the trend for farm shop/farmers markets has also been hit hard~people opting(not necessarily through choice)for the bargain supermarkets like Aldi & Lidl.
I say eat more wild rabbit!!Even if you can't find a free source the prices at butchers are far less than chicken!

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

I have to say at our farmer's market a lot of the stuff is very expensive, aimed at a niche market rather than everyday eating. Some of the stalls of dried nuts, fruits and specialist pies etc are very expensive, and I'm not convinced they are in the right spirit. I don't bother too much now, I can buy local produce from the local greengrocer cheaper than I can get them at the farmer's market, and it often looks much fresher too.
On another note, in Tesco today, packs of bread rolls, which had been sold in the past few weeks at 3 for £1, were up at 2 for £1.

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I could not live without a garden, it is my place to unwind and recover, to marvel at the power of all growing things, even weeds!

http://potagerplot.blogspot.com/

Yes, I'd agree with that - demand has gone down because of the massive price-hikes which happened as soon as the supermarkets thought they could get away with it. Plus, they don't want people to buy the Organic/FreeRange chickens, they'd be proved wrong then, so if they keep pushing the prices up people eventually have to revert to the cheaper ones again. We just eat less chicken, have fish, beef or lamb instead.

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Sarah

http://www.hypermobility.org


“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

When you consider how much they throw away due to ensuring they can meet buyers needs,no surprising they want to craftily make it look like the majority still want the cheap birds!~the wasted cheap chooks they have to throw probably costs them pennies~if they'd over bought FR would start hitting them harder.Really sad but I think supermarkets think more about how much they'll lose due to not selling rather than how much profit they make from sales.(does that make sense?did in my head!?)
They were dicussing "freeganism"on Matthew Wright today~it really is disgusting how much supermarkets throw away that's still edible,like I said I think they're more concerned over losses than profit!(the wines gone to my head if I'm not making sense!)

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

We're still fiinding it hard to buy free-range, as we are out in the sticks and use a local butcher who doesn't have FR except for whole birds...my solution is to buy a whole bird and get hi to joint it for me - divided into 8, that's 4 meals for me and OH.

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Growing in the Garden of England http://www.kentvegplot.blogspot.com

I am a vegetarian, but I just bought 2 FR chickens to support the cause !

OH will eat them.. each chook produces 5 or so man-size meals for the freezer.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Well, if you're a cynic, then so am I. I don't buy any meat, now, as I only eat organic and that's a rip-off, so am pretty much an unofficial veggie!!

In the true spirit of 'grow your own' I fancy some of these Silver Grey Dorking chooks.

They are a dual purpose bird, particularily favoured for their white meat. Queen Victoria was said to eat nothing else, so if they are good enough for her they'll just about do for me!

If you're interested there's lots of information about their Roman heritage on google!

PS They're quite pretty as well!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

So now you've experienced keeping hens for eggs..do you think you could do it??!We keep toying with the idea but think we'd just end up with lots & lots of new pets!!(you watch them grow up from chickhood all the way through to ready for the table!)

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

Hi

Jamie and Hughs programmes were about promoting free range, better standards and not organic.
And free range chickens are still very much in demand!

FG

I think this has been mooted before.............if you buy organic chickens in Tesco's I was told they WERE free range?

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

In a nutshell YES!

I have realised I am a bit more callous than I first imagined, and although I haven't killed a chook yet, I came very near to wringing one of their necks because IT was pecking the others with no retaliation! If it was for the good of the flock that I needed to 'cull', no problem!

If I eventually get my Dorkings which I intend raising from eggs, I will have no alternative but to cull the cockerels as we aren't allowed them at the allotments anyway. I'll keep them until they start to crow and get a bit of meat on them first though! That's the plan anyway!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Yes, they are. Organic is one step further than Free Range, in that the feed is more tightly controlled, antibiotics are not administered in feed as they are with other chooks and the use of hormones to enhance growth etc are not allowed. I disagree strongly with feeding inappropriate foods to animals, so go for organic (I don't even feed cod liver oil to my horses). Not to mention the 'free-range' criteria are a little stretched, to say the least. 4 birds to a square metre, I think it was.

Hi

But not the other way around. Not all free range are organic, just better standards.

The natural way for a chicken to live is outdoors – with grass under its feet, and the sun on its back. Outdoor access is fundamental to the free range system of poultry production.

The birds are still commercially produced, farmed in large numbers and destined for the oven, but they have more space and lead more natural, longer lives, a minimum of 56 days instead of 39.

Pop holes are open all day long, giving them access to natural light, to fresh air and open space.

And when they choose to go inside, they have more space, and an enriched environment: straw bales to perch and jump on, even footballs to play with.

Which is good, because chickens are sociable, curious creatures. They like to range, they love to roost in shaded areas and they have a keen sense of hierarchy – their place in the pecking order.

Free range birds do cost more to produce; so they will cost you more. In the supermarkets you’ll pay £5-plus for a whole bird. Which isn’t much for a family meal.

Is it worth the extra? It’s down to you.

FG

Agree wholeheartedly with you FG! Organic chicken will always be a lot more expensive because as I've found to my detriment, orgainic layers pellets are about TWICE the price of inorganic!
So in essence free range is great but organic is excellent!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)