This blog is more of a diary entry than article. I decided recently that continuing to buy my eggs from the supermarket increasingly had me in an ethical bind. You see, even if you choose to purchase organic eggs, this is - strictly speaking - no guarantee of a decent level of animal welfare. Further, when we progress to buying RSPCA-approved (Australia) or "free range", while undoubtedly an improvement (from a baseline of untold misery, it must be said) we still find flock densities that some (including myself) find disagreeable along with some flexibility let's say in terms of meanings; free range doesn't necessarily mean free reign for the chicken throughout the day. But, surely the most confronting part of the egg industry is what happens to the "useless" gender in this case. The males are an unwanted byproduct, killed and disposed of shortly after birth.
So - what's to be done? If you, like me, are fortunate enough to be on a reasonable amount of land, I think taking on your own "flock" is the best way to go, taking ownership for your own needs. Below I introduce my Free Roaming (mostly) Five.
And - when they stop laying ... will I have the heart to kill them by then? Probably not. 😉
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