Free Range Chicken Houses
September 14th, 2011What is the difference between a free range chicken house and a normal broiler house? The main difference is that a normal chicken house is closed – the chickens cannot get outside the poultry house. A free range poultry house has “pop holes” or “free range flaps” to allow the chickens in and out of the poultry house. The main difference between intensive farming and organic or free range is how you raise the chickens – whether they are layers for eggs or broilers for their meat - what you feed them, what medication you give them, how much space they have to live and forage and perch. It is a choice that few farmers make because they love their chickens – it is a commercial choice – and with a premium being paid for organic eggs, free range eggs, organic chicken meat and free range chicken meat, many poultry farmers are switching to this kind of chicken farming. As the public becomes more informed about the terrible conditions that chickens live in, they choose with their wallets – some may call them bleeding hearts – but chickens do have intelligence and any kind of suffering should not be in the name of an easy meal, especially for the wealthy. One can argue that starving people have more right to the cheapest food they can get – but for people who eat meat 7 days a week, and just eat the choicest cuts the whole issue of animal abuse is a sore point for many.
Broiler house South Africa
On a large free range chicken farm all of the poultry equipment used in a poultry structure is the same – except when farming free range eggs, the house will use nest boxes, and not layer cages. Layer cages, or battery cages, are used in intensive poultry farming in South Africa. Nest boxes allow the laying hens to nest as they please, and still access the rest of the chicken house and the outside area. Poultry units will still use batch weighers, (repairs and service) drinkers, feeders, poultry thermometers and poultry heaters, fans etc. The cost does not change except in the space you need – space inside the chicken house and space outside for the chickens to forage – and this can add to the bottom line. Labour will cost you a little more but not much. Free range day old chicks and free range point of lay hens cost no more than other products. What will be a problem if you are doing organic poultry is the feed – especially in South Africa. This can add a huge cost as there are no organic feed suppliers in South Africa – so chicken farms must now grow their own feed – meaning poultry farmers must now become organic vegetable farmers. The other huge cost for organic farmers is the cost of certification – and this needs to be done every year if you want to use the organic label. Free range farmers do not face any of these extra costs - the industry is under regulated and the regulations are easy to follow – the chickens can be fed normal chicken food – the only real difference is the living and perching space – and of course the outside range. Other challenges facing free range farmers are that the ground cover needs to be maintained – the chickens must be foraging on land that has vegetation. Due to the lack of real regulation many farmers pay lip service to the spirit of free range – preferring to push the limits, and sometimes break the law in the quest for profit. Stories and rumours even say that egg farms have layer cages and free range – and make up the free range egg numbers by taking eggs from the battery chickens – and there is no way to tell the difference btween a free range egg or chicken compared to a battery egg or intensively farmed chicken.
