Thank God for those touchy-feely Californians. Lawmakers out there correctly believe that an egg-laying hen should be allowed to lie down, stand up, turn around and fully spread its wings whenever the heck it wants to. After all, as anyone with a desk job knows, sitting down all day can cause leg cramps, backaches and worse. So they passed a law back in 2010 that will go into effect next year --what's taking so long is anybody's guess--that requires anyone keeping chickens to house them in an area that's big enough to allow a little exercise.
Well guess what: the creeps in six nearby states (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Alabama and Oklahoma) that sell eggs in California are challenging that law, saying "building larger enclosures would mean hefty costs for producers," according to an article in today's Wall Street Journal.
This makes me mad. Here in Maine, where practically everyone you meet keeps chickens in their own backyard and sells their fresh eggs at the local farmers' market, or just at the end of the driveway, chickens have a great life. (Much better than the lobsters, certainly.) They are forever crossing the road willy-nilly, which we all know they love to do. Traffic stops for them, pictures are usually taken, and to thank us they deliver eggs that taste sublime, much better than the kind you get in the supermarket.
How mean can people be that they want the eggs but they don't give a hoot about the chickens? If you agree, don't buy any eggs unless they say "cage free" on the package. They cost a bit more but they taste a lot better, and doing so might just get you into Heaven when you die.
Well guess what: the creeps in six nearby states (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Alabama and Oklahoma) that sell eggs in California are challenging that law, saying "building larger enclosures would mean hefty costs for producers," according to an article in today's Wall Street Journal.
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| Erika LeBarre |
How mean can people be that they want the eggs but they don't give a hoot about the chickens? If you agree, don't buy any eggs unless they say "cage free" on the package. They cost a bit more but they taste a lot better, and doing so might just get you into Heaven when you die.
and I will add a plug here for a great organization, Farm Forward. Read about that. Ben Goldsmith is my nephew.
ReplyDeleteCage free is only incrementally better than conventional egg production. Alas, the only surefire way to acquire humanely produced eggs is to find them produced on a small scale locally, or to do it yourself.
ReplyDeleteCage free on those large operations isn't much better. Better to go to your local farmer's market and pay the extra dollar for true farm fresh eggs, or stop by your neighbor's with the coop in the back yard and ask for a few... chicken keepers will always give away eggs to the neighbors!
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