Free Range

Hi Everyone:

Before I begin with today's topic, I would like to pass something on to you all. After last weeks blog, I received an email from one of my more avid readers. The reader added 3 more rules to my list of rules for all of the politicians in Washington. So here are the 3 additional rules:

19) All of congress will go back to their States or districts 6 months out of the year, unless there is an emergency session.

20) No elected Senator or Representative will meet with a lobbyist outside of their office and all meetings will be recorded.

21) No elected Senator or Representative will serve more then 2 terms.

Now you might be wondering about what the title of today's topic means. When you hear the term free range, it is almost always about chickens. I have heard so many people talk about how they prefer free range chickens over caged chickens. Right off the bat, let me state that I am not a fan of overcrowding of chickens in a caged environment. So let's look at the difference between free range vs. caged.

What most people do not know or realize is that chickens can and will be carnivores if ever given the opportunity. So if you raise chickens free range, they will eat any small animal, live or dead, that they will inevitably find. What does that mean? You can not control what the chickens eat and that worries me. Dead animals can have any number of diseases. Puddles of stagnant water can also be a problem.

On the other hand, chickens raised in cramped quarters, in a caged environment are often given antibiotics to stem the spread of disease due to the cramped conditions. This also worries me. But you can raise chickens in a caged environment as long as they are not cramped. That means that you don't need to give them antibiotics. But, you can raise them organically if you so chose. I raised my chickens without the use of antibiotics and I used organic feed and never had a problem. I also raised my chickens on a raised platform with chicken wire as the floor, yes it really is called chicken wire. Chicken wire is used so that their droppings drop through the wire and doesn't stay in their living area meaning a cleaner environment. Additionally, fresh clean water is not a problem.

So let's review:

Free range: Caged:

Can't control what they eat or drink. Can control what they eat and drink.

If given the choice which would you choose? To me, the common sense answer is organically fed caged chickens.

So now you have the info to make an informed decision and common sense dictates which is the better choice. Bon appetite.

Til next week.