What if everyone wanted to raise their own chickens and hens? Let’s keep in mind that we are 8 billion!
However, let’s see what it would mean and what we would need to do.
The topic requires space, and this article will therefore be longer than usual. But it will be informative.
One of the goals of our blog is to help people who are uninformed about the poultry sector and therefore exposed to fake news on this topic.
The global need for access to healthy, safe, affordable, and nutritious food requires a scientific, responsible, and professional approach, and it should be remembered that the poultry sector has been applying this approach for over 70 years.
Below, to address the “do-it-yourself” theme, we also try to support the idea of associations that criticize intensive farming and suggest adopting small farms, almost at the family or “group” level.
Please note that the following is a “theoretical/practical exercise” that takes into account both the objections to the poultry system from animal rights associations and the widespread temptation among individual families to try to obtain eggs and meat “do-it-yourself”.
For this exercise, it was necessary to integrate the suggested method with knowledge derived from the scientific world, without which animalist theories (which do not provide methodological suggestions corroborated by experiences applicable worldwide, nor supported by scientific data) would not be able to stand up.
So… do we want to have eggs and chicken meat without resorting to protected/intensive farming?
Let’s do it. What does it take? Perhaps just following the associations’ recommendations? Let’s see.
To begin this theoretical experiment, it must be considered that it is “sufficient” for each family to have a suitable and adequate space to keep a few chickens and hens.
But we have to go get the animals somewhere. Or not?
If it weren’t for intensive farming and the entire supply chain that allows for their existence and continuity, where and from whom could we get our supplies?
Let’s imagine, however, that we know an enthusiast, who already owns roosters and hens, who could perhaps help us.
If many people had the same idea, our new “supplier” might certainly not have enough for us.
For this exercise, however, let’s pretend we’re the first to do it and ignore (for now) the needs of others. How many hens and chickens will we need?
An expert informed us: the average annual European consumption of eggs is around 250 per person (of which 100 are indirectly consumed in sweets, pasta, etc.), while the average annual consumption of chicken is around 20kg per person.
To meet the needs of a family of 4, 3 laying hens and 50 chickens will be needed.
The three hens will produce 10-15 eggs per week.
The 50 chickens (once grown, slaughtered and frozen) will allow you to eat meat once a week (considering one chicken per week per family)
Once the need has been defined, we now have to buy them and bring them “home”: for 3 laying chicks and 50 broiler chicks we will get by with 50 euros.
Do we want to bring them home? If we live in the city, we can’t keep them in apartments! (This situation affects 70% of Europeans and 55% of the world’s population.)
Chickens and hens “produce waste” and leave it wherever they please! However, the building where we live has a nice shared garden. Could we keep our chicks there? Would we need permission from the other residents?
What if everyone else wanted to be able to do the same?
Let’s do some math:
- 40 people live in the building, therefore the hens needed to satisfy everyone’s needs become 30 and the chickens 500.
You will therefore need:
- 2,000 square meters just for chickens because each of them needs at least 4 square meters, as required by law for organic farms, otherwise you might as well leave them in a conventional farm;
- a separate 120 m2 enclosure for laying hens.
But we discover that the condominium garden is only 1,000 m2: we will then have to do two “cycles” of chickens of 250 heads each.
But let’s start thinking: how will each of us recognize our own animals?
Even if we decide to ignore this point, considering the whole thing as a condominium farm, at least three other things remain to be decided:
- Who and how many of the condominium members will be responsible for this morning and evening, every day of the year, including Christmas, Easter, and New Year’s? What skills will they have?
- How do we get the ASL permits? What will they ask us to do? How much will it cost to get them in order?
- How will the neighbors react? Will they complain?
So we decided to leave the apartment and move to the countryside, and this story of raising our chickens is the final push to convince us that the time has come to change our lives!
Okay.
We’re finally in the countryside. We’ve purchased the laying hens and chickens, and we just need to properly set up the space we’ve dedicated for them.
This time we have all our own outdoor space:
- For the layers, a space of 12 m² plus an internal area of 1 or 2 m², with the nests where they will lay their eggs. Here, the layer chicks will begin laying eggs 20 weeks (5 months) after hatching.
- For chickens, an outdoor space of 200 m2 plus an indoor space of 5-6 m2. The chickens will be “mature” after 50-80 days.
We will therefore have to provide them with healthy food, fresh water, and prevent them from catching cold, drafts, and diseases.
So we discover that this won’t be as easy as it seems either. Why? Let’s proceed in order.
Healthy food? We should learn the nutritional needs of these animals at various stages of their development, which raw materials to use, and how to mix them. Or we could buy a few bags of ready-made feed. But how do we monitor its quality? How do we distribute the feed so that all our animals get their correct ration? How do we prevent this feed from becoming food—or at least a source of attraction—for wild birds, mice, and various insects?
Fresh water? Specialized chicken and hens drinkers should be equipped with waterers, adjusted to their height based on growth, and the pressure of the water flow should be adjusted based on consumption. Avoid creating damp areas under the waterers, which could be breeding grounds for bacteria. Regularly disinfect the water system, even when using drinking water.
Ventilation? Chicken and hens chicks need plenty of heat, around 30-35°C. For the first few weeks, a few infrared lamps will be needed. Once fledged, the chicks gradually learn to warm themselves and can survive in temperatures of 10-30°C.
Slaughter? Who will kill and butcher the chickens when they’re “mature”? If they’re all slaughtered at once, a large freezer will be needed to preserve them. If they’re slaughtered one at a time, the care of the remaining ones will never end…
Vaccinations and diseases? Broiler chickens and laying hens must be vaccinated against the most important avian diseases. A veterinarian will be needed to prescribe, administer, and administer the vaccines. Furthermore, our birds could contract other illnesses, as respiratory infections are common, as are intestinal infections. A veterinarian will also be needed to assess their health and, if necessary, prescribe medication.
By now, you should have been able to do some calculations. Not just financially, but also in terms of the time and effort required.
Now think that even if everyone could start their own small home farm, in practice there are 8 billion of us on earth and it wouldn’t be possible to implement it.
However, all the indications listed are only a part of the care that is ensured by professional breeders of large-scale conventional farms, also called intensive or protected.
What it takes to run a personal farm that can guarantee eggs and meat to a family with the same safety and peace of mind as a protected farm seems easy, but in reality it is objectively very demanding and characterized by direct and indirect costs that, unless you are in the trade, you can’t even imagine.
The numbers of animals raised by the poultry sector are objectively high, and those who criticize their scale are probably unaware that their purpose is to provide healthy, nutritious, and affordable food worldwide… and that the only way to do so is to respect animal welfare, even if anti-farming associations accuse farmers of failing to do so.
We often point out that animal welfare is essential if you intend to be a professional breeder. Without animal welfare, you can’t even talk about intensive/protected farming. If animal welfare is lacking, we’re dealing with clandestine, irregular, or improvised farms.
There are also those who follow alternative and only apparently virtuous paths, engaging in alternative forms of egg-laying hens using what they have available: woods and fields.
We’re talking about “wild” farms. Laying hens live in the woods. This type of farming is a real example of “artisanal” egg production solutions: a viable management system, albeit fraught with risks, capable of operating within certain limits: 2,000 birds in approximately 20,000 square meters of woodland with four people to supervise the farm. Health risks aside, the cost of these eggs is at least 70 cents each, plus shipping/delivery costs.
These are just a few examples, many of them, with the significant limitation of being little more than family-run businesses that will never be able to meet the egg demand of the food and human consumption industries. This is especially true given the unaffordable price for those who use eggs for large-scale production, and in any case, with numbers that could never meet the supply/demand dynamics, which are so broad and traditional that it’s difficult to fully understand them.
In addition to these considerations, it must be clearly stated that the forests and land available on Earth would not be enough to cover market demand.
It is also important to reiterate that one of the functions of intensive/protected farming is to meet the demand of entire nations, making each potentially autonomous and independent from imports.
The poultry sector, for eggs alone, handles millions of euros worth of feed materials annually, employing hundreds of thousands of industry professionals with dedicated staff to ensure the continuity needed to carry out the complex task of ensuring “food security,” meaning the assurance of a sufficient, constant, affordable, and nutritious food supply.
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