FOWL TREATMENT

I have just seen an advertisement by a large well-known supermarket chain offering “ a medium size” chicken for ￡2-80. Now, the retailer will have paid the supplier about half , say ￡1-40. 

So, let’s do the sums. It takes circa eight weeks for a chick to become medium size.

What are the breeders margins ? Well, if they want to make just ten percent then there’s ￡1-26 to spend on feed for the chick over sixty days. We now divide 126 pennies by 60 leaving us with a food allowance of 2.1 pence a day ! With such minimal input I don’t seethe chicken being allowed to “free range”, in case it burns up energy and loses weight. I have ignored other costs such as vets and transport , general overheads etc.

In conclusion, I would be fascinated to know what these chickens are fed on and also, whether they ever see the sun, from the occasion of their hatching, right up until their despatching.