What is the problem with free range chicken? (2023)

What are the disadvantages of free-range chickens?

The mandatory housing measures which were in place across the UK since 29 November 2021 were lifted on Monday 2 May 2022. Poultry and other captive birds no longer need to be housed, unless they are in a Protection Zone. Read more about this: Avian influenza housing measures lifted on 2 May.

Free-Ranging Chickens Have Healthier Meat

When chickens free-range, they tend to have a healthier and more natural diet. They are also more active and exposed to more sunlight than their confined counter parts.

Most commercial laying hens, free-range or otherwise, are high egg yielding breeds (e.g. white leghorn), which can lay over 300 eggs per year. Laying so many eggs every year takes a toll on the hens' bodies, and increases risk of osteoporosis, which can lead to painful fractures and limb deformities [8].

Veterinarians say poultry with outdoor access are particularly vulnerable to becoming infected with bird flu, officially known as highly pathogenic avian influenza or HPAI, because migratory birds spread the disease. Poultry can fall ill from contact with infected wild birds, their feathers or feces.

There is little difference in the nutritional values of cage, cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised eggs, according to the Egg Nutrition Center. However, there may be slight differences in the mineral content of eggs depending on the rearing environment, according to one study.

1. The best hours for supervised free ranging are just prior to dusk. This way, the chickens should automatically return to their coop/run as the daylight fades.

Free ranging chickens offers many benefits, the most obvious being that access to fresh air, sunshine and open land on which to forage can make for healthier chickens. But it doesn't end there. When chickens are able to forage for themselves, all of those bugs, grubs and worms fuel healthier eggs as well.

Out of all the chicken options at the grocery story, the healthiest option is fresh chicken breast. The white meat (chicken breast) has slightly less cholesterol than the dark meat (legs and wings). It is definitely lower in saturated fats. In general, poultry is a heart-healthy protein.

The answer is to use it as a soil amendment or fertilizer. However, raw chicken manure can burn and damage plants. It should be composted or aged prior to use. In addition, raw manure can contain pathogens that can harm people and animals.

What is life like for a free-range chicken?

A free-range chicken could be living in a vast industrial shed with a door to a small enclosed outdoor space (with no definied size requirement) and be expected to share that outdoor area with 20,000 to 30,000 birds living in the same overcrowded housing.

Why will free-range eggs be unavailable? The reason why free-range eggs will no longer be on the shelves is because hens have been kept indoors for months. That's because chickens have been under lockdown since December to prevent a spike in bird flu from escalating further.

Regulators typically strip eggs of their “free-range status” if the animals are kept inside for more than 16 weeks. This had previously been 12 weeks but was extended in 2018. New laws were brought in last November to ensure farmers kept their chickens indoors over the “largest ever outbreak of avian flu”.

Free-range eggs are now no longer available to buy in supermarkets due to the risk of bird flu outbreaks.

DEFRA says there is no risk to humans from eating eggs or chicken, but in order to slow the spread of avian flu birds have to be kept inside.

Shoppers will no longer be able to buy free-range eggs from supermarkets from Monday because of restrictions to stop the spread of bird flu. Chickens have been in bird flu lockdown since November, meaning eggs previously classed as free-range must now be labelled 'barn'.

The Food Standards Agency has said avian flu also poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers and that properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.

There is not one documented case of a chicken coop lowering the property value of the neighborhood. Neighborhoods that did not allow chickens and then changed the ordinances to allow them DID NOT see a decrease in property values. In fact, they increased.

Do Chickens attract rats? Rats are not attracted to chickens. However, they are attracted to chicken feed, and love stealing a freshly laid egg. Rats are also attracted to nice, warm, cozy places to live, especially if there is a reliable food source nearby.

Mary Marshall says the odor and pollution from nearby chicken farms can make it hard to breathe. The waste is a combination of manure, feed and carcasses — which can cause harmful gas emissions. Mary says there are dust particles in the air and it can be hard to breathe.

What's better cage-free or free-range?

The most significant difference between eggs from cage-free and free range hens is outdoor access. Put simply, free range hens have it, while cage-free hens don't. But with outdoor access come so many other benefits to hens—most notably, the ability to display their natural behaviors.

No routine use of antibiotics:

Under organic standards, antibiotics can only be used to treat animals if they do get ill. Because of the lower stocking densities and higher animal welfare, organic animals need antibiotics far less frequently than non-organic and free-range livestock.

Organic chickens are raised and fed in ecologically friendly conditions, so they tend to use their muscles a lot, this might make them too tough or woody. In this case try to prolong a cooking period of organic chicken meat by setting lower temps and a longer time frame for roasting, grilling etc.

Legal requirements

Check if there are any restrictions on keeping poultry in your area. Poultry keepers with 350 or more birds must be registered with Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Those with 50 or more birds only need to register if they are selling the eggs at local public markets.

While many communities don't address chicken housing, those that do have widely varying requirements. Typically such laws will specify that chickens must be housed some distance from residences, as few as 10 feet or as many as 150 feet.

So yes, chickens can stay inside their coop all day as long as they have everything they need for the entire day, including light. If your coop does not have windows you can put in lights and a timer, but that often requires running electric and many people don't want to do that outside.

It is true chickens are creatures of HABIT. Once they have in their mind that they need to return to the coop, they will do it like clockwork. If you have them in the habit of returning to their “home” (the coop), then it is unusual for the habit to be broken.

Chickens Help With Pest Control

Chickens will make a meal of common garden pests, including beetles, cabbage worms, slugs, caterpillars, and more. When allowed to roam freely, chickens will happily pluck insects from your garden. One chicken can easily debug around 120 square feet of land per week.

Conclusion. Chickens are curious animals and can wander off when looking for food. But they return home at dusk to roost. Chickens use the magnetic field of the earth to find their way back home, like migratory birds.

Do chickens wreck your lawn?

Chickens love to forage! They will scratch and dig but as a rule they don't tend to shred turf. If you have a dense lawn with no bare patches then you should have no problem at all; they will just wander around eating bugs, seeds and graze a little on the lawn.

Industry trade literature shows that some companies are marketing poultry pumped with 30% water as a way of cutting costs. Dr Duncan Campbell, a former president of the Association of Public Analysts, said it had become the norm to find levels of water even higher than this.

If you want to keep things simple, buy organic chicken. These birds are fed USDA-certified organic feed, so they're free of any pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, additives or animal by-products. They also meet the “free-range” criteria—meaning they have access to the outdoors.

Fresh chicken should have a pinkish color. Avoid cosmetic damages, such as bruising or tears in the skin, which can affect the chicken's quality and freshness. Chicken should also be plump; when you press against it, the meat should be somewhat resilient, resuming its shape after a few seconds.

Another byproduct of burning chicken litter, dioxin, is classified by the National Toxicology Program as a known human carcinogen.” It's bad news all around.

While the use of chicken manure is commonly accepted practice, rodents will be attracted. Avoid using any manure that will attract rodents in compost piles in areas that are experiencing a rodent problem.

Dioxins are the most toxic man-made chemicals known to science and mainly accumulate in meat and dairy products, including contaminating poultry. Poultry waste burning, like other forms of "biomass" incineration, releases 50 percent more carbon dioxide than coal, creating problems for global warming.

Free-range eggs are no longer available to buy in the UK following the largest ever outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu). Supermarkets must label the eggs as 'barn eggs' as the birds have been kept indoors for over 16 weeks. From Monday, signs will be put up to inform shoppers about the current situation.

Hens raised organically are given 10 square metres of outside space per bird compared to 4 square metres for hens raised as free range. Organic hens are also allowed outside from a younger age which helps them get used to a more outdoor lifestyle.

Which are the best free-range eggs?

Backyard Eggs (by Vital Farms)

Eggs from pasture-raised hens are the most nutritious and tastiest in my opinion. Backyard Eggs provide at least 108 square feet of pasture per bird, so the hens have a huge amount of space to roam and eat grass, bugs, worms, etc.

Ongoing outbreaks of avian influenza in the UK mean that all free-range eggs will be sold as barn as hens have now been housed under egg marketing legislation for more than 16 weeks.

Eggs termed as 'free range' hens, must have continuous access to outdoors during daylight hours, to fresh water and to external areas which are mainly covered with vegetation. The birds are housed in hen houses, where part of the floor is covered in straw, which allows the birds to exhibit their natural behaviour.

The main difference between barn and free range is that in a free range system, hens are given the opportunity to roam outdoors during daylight hours, whereas barn hens are kept indoors at all times. No one system is better than the other.

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Free-range eggs will be labelled ”barn eggs” instead from Monday 21 March, which is the name given to eggs produced by permanently indoor birds.

For hens. Animal rights organizations say that pasture-raised and free-range eggs are the best choice for hen welfare. Hens that farmers raise in such environments can go outside and have the opportunity to engage in natural behavior.

Even the white of the egg presents a hostile environment for microorganisms. However, the tiny pores in the shell may allow some microorganisms to get through. Appropriate on-farm cleaning and disinfection procedures reduce the chance of Salmonella being introduced into the birds' environment.

And the mainstay of that advice, for keepers of small flocks or pet chickens, is to keep them indoors. The reasons are clear – Avian Flu (specifically, a H5N8 strain) is still present.

All bird keepers must their birds "indoors" and to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease.

Restrictions on 'free range' chickens are set to be relaxed. Farmers have had to keep their hens indoors for the last 12 weeks to protect them from an outbreak of bird flu.

How long do chickens need to be kept indoors?

Taking Baby Chicks Outside The Coop

Chicks stay in the brooder until they have developed most of their juvenile feathers, usually about six weeks. Or until they start escaping the brooder on their own!

You can't catch bird flu through eating fully cooked poultry or eggs, even in areas with an outbreak of bird flu.

Domesticated birds (chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc.) can become infected with bird flu A viruses through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected poultry, or through contact with surfaces that have been contaminated with the viruses.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza

In chickens, HPAI signs often include respiratory (gasping) and digestive (extreme diarrhea) signs followed by rapid death. Chickens may have swelling around the head, neck, and eyes. The heads and legs may also have purple discoloration.

Although avian (bird) influenza (flu) A viruses usually do not infect people, there have been some rare cases of human infection with these viruses. Illness in humans from bird flu virus infections have ranged in severity from no symptoms or mild illness to severe disease that resulted in death.

Advice when feeding wild birds

There is very low risk that avian influenza could be transmitted to people by feeding birds in the garden. Birds carry a variety of diseases, such as salmonella.

As soon as potential bathroom behavior is about to happen, place the chicken in the litter box. Once the chicken has released feces or urine into the box, reward the chicken with a treat. Using treats to reward a chicken for good behavior will cause the chicken to want to repeat the action.

But are free-range eggs actually ethical? Free-range eggs are no longer available to buy in the UK, after bird flu outbreaks led to thousands of chickens being locked inside for months. It was November 2021 when the H5N1 strain of bird flu began to seriously alarm farmers in the UK.

Birds can be slaughtered anywhere from 28 days to 81 (if they are organic) days old. In the UK, the typical slaughter age is just 42 days. Despite looking like adults, due to their accelerated growth, factory-farmed birds are still just chicks when they are killed.

Free-range eggs have come from birds that, during the daytime, enjoy unlimited access to outdoor pastures. At night, free-range hens are housed in barns which keep them safe. This also allows them to express normal behaviour with perches for roosting and a maximum of nine hens per square meter of usable inside space.

How do you keep chickens from pooping in nesting boxes?

Stop Chickens From Pooping in Nesting Boxes - YouTube

Coop Training, Teaching Chickens to Lay and Sleep in the Coop - YouTube

HFAC's Certified Humane^® “Free Range” requirement is 2 sq. ft. per bird. The hens must be outdoors, weather permitting (in some areas of the country, seasonal), and when they are outdoors they must be outdoors for at least 6 hours per day.