On Saturday I went to The Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market to check out the Pleasant Pops stand and get some fruity delicious breakfast. The market was packed with vendors selling fruits and vegetables, dairy and eggs and meat, bread and pastries, and of course Pleasant Pops. There was a bluegrass band playing on a stage they shared with Farmers' Market Information and a free bicycle repair clinic. As my friend and I licked cucumber-chili and ginger-peach Pleasant Pops, she commented that the market "restored her faith in humanity."
Shortly after those inspirational words came out of my friend's mouth, she asked if the eggs sold at a stand close to us were humane, so I meandered over to to ask my questions.
Truck Patch Farms is a family farm that sells vegetables and a variety of animal products including eggs. I asked Brian (the farmer) if his chickens had their beaks clipped. He began to tell me his story, and I so wish I had a camera to tape his story, because he told it so well:
Brian, like so many farmers, cares deeply about the treatment of his animals. While he only buys chicks with their beaks intact, he still has some from the days when you could only gets chicks with their beaks clipped. For the older ones, he used to only let them graze on the soft soil that had been dug up by his pigs, so they could peck without full beaks. Now that most of his chickens have beaks, they can roam on whatever ground suits them.
He told me the story about when he decided to get chickens: He recalled going into his neighbor's hen house to help collect the eggs, and saw rows and rows of heads sticking out of cages. When he returned home, he said, "Honey! We're raising chickens!" And he has been raising chickens his way ever since.
As for his meat (which he boasted about after his chickens, not knowing that I was a vegetarian), he demands a humane slaughter to end their humane life. This touched me because so many farmers unfortunately don't have the time to investigate the slaughter of the animals they cared for so well. "If they don't allow me to watch the slaughter, I won't go send my animals there," he said. He informed me that the best smoke-house is not the best slaughter house, so while he will smoke his meat there, he won't slaughter them there.
I reported that my friend should definitely buy her eggs from Brian.
I know that when my friend said that the market "restored her faith in humanity" she was probably joking (especially since the night before we had discussed the woes of humanity, mainly focusing on the toll e-waste takes on humans and the environment); but as I looked around at the fresh veggies, Pleasant Pops and humane animal products, I didn't think she was so off the mark.
Photo: Courtesy of Pleasant Pops.
After I investigated hatcheries that did not clip beaks or claws, I emailed Randy from Star Hollow Farms. (As you may recall from The Chicken and Egg Part II, I spoke to Randy at the Adams Morgan farmers market, and he said that he could not get chicks with their beaks intact.)
This is the email I sent to Randy:
Hi Randy:
My name is Emily, and I met you last weekend at the Adams Morgan Farmers Market --- We discussed your chickens, and you told me that you got your chicks with their beaks already clipped, because you couldn't get them intact. As you may remember, I told you that I could not buy eggs from someone who got their chicks with their beaks clipped, and also could not partake in your CSA for that same reason.
As you may know, there are a lot of folks like me who want to get their eggs from farmers who raise their hens with their beaks intact. I believe that people will be more inclined to get eggs from you if you started buying chicks who were not debeaked. From our conversation, and from what I gathered from your website, this is the one element of humane treatment that is lacking in the rearing of your chickens.
I spoke to another farmer (also from Pennsylvania), who told me that he was able to get his chicks with their beaks and claws intact. I got the names of the hatcheries, and thought you might be interested in looking into that option. I have included their contact information below:
- Reich Poultry Farm, Inc. (717-426-3411), http://reichspoultryfarm.com/index.html
- Moyer's Chicks (215-536-3155), http://www.moyerschicks.com/MC-Web/DesktopDefault.aspx
I write a blog called (www.humanefoodfinder.blogspot.com), and wrote about my experience last weekend. I would love to let readers know that you switched to chicks who were not debeaked, and who are able to carry out natural instincts like pecking.
Please let me know if I can help in calling the hatcheries, and I look forward to hearing from you and updating my blog, and specifically coming to buy eggs from you!
Many thanks!
Emily
Randy responded a few days later after looking into the hatcheries.
First, I would like to state that Randy owns the type of farm you want to buy food from. When some crazy person with a bullhorn and a bone to pick (a-hem... me) emails him and asks about debeaking chickens, he did not dismiss me as the bullhorn, bone picker that I am. He instead looked into my concerns, and addressed them. Here are some highlights from his response:
He looked into both of the hatcheries I referred him to. He explained that Reich's Hatchery is out of the question because they only sell chicks (not debeaked), and in order for him to raise baby chicks, he would need all kinds of expensive chick-raising equipment, and that does not interest him.
Therefore, he needs to get ready-to-lay hens. He spent 15 minutes on the phone with Moyer's Chicks, and learned that they do clip the beaks (contrary to what Pecan Meadows Farms told me) and they told him that "clipping the beaks at a very young age is about the equivalent of clipping toe-nails on us." They went on to tell Randy "if enough people requested unclipped beaks, they might try it. I added my name to a list of interested persons," he emailed me.
He also told me the producers' reasoning for clipping the beaks, primarily that hens end up hurting each other when they are trying to establish their pecking order, sometimes killing other hens. And he asked me, "I guess one of my main thoughts is, if I got such a flock, how willing am I going to be to have birds killing each other mercilessly, as is their nature, even with complete freedom, just so I can say they have unclipped beaks. Not an obvious benefit for them, or us, if you ask me. Just so you know, I consider myself a strong proponent of animal rights, and we treat our birds very well. So why change when it will mean dead birds vs. clipped beaks?"
So, like I said, Randy is a farmer you want to buy from. He is thoughtful. He is a strong proponent of animal rights. And he is doing the best he can. (Go read his bio on his website, if you don't believe me).
But what I need to find out (and not from PETA or a hatchery) is if debeaking is really like clipping toe-nails. Some consider neutering or spaying a dog inhumane, but, as a strong proponent of animal rights, I think I treat my dog very well, and decided it was best to neuter Winston.
And if we do find out that debeaking chicks is like clipping toe-nails, then that is great. (I love clipping my toe-nails. I clip them too short, even.) But if we find out that it is not, I hope more farmers will contact their chicken suppliers, especially Moyer's Chicks, and ask them for chickens with their beaks intact.
By far, one of the hardest parts of eating humane all the time is breakfast (breakfast is the only challenge I have encountered thus far... I am sure once I go out for Latin food, I will write a tortured post about how I was not able to eat the cheesy goodness).
So, being humane means eating free range eggs. Not "free range" like Land O Lakes (which only means that they are not kept in cages), but free range meaning:
- Their beaks and claws are not clipped. Mass egg and chicken producers clip their birds beaks and claws so that they don't peck and scratch at each other. Chickens in confinement of course peck and claw at each other because they are packed together. Luckily I don't have a beak, or else Alex, my boyfriend -- we share a 1-bedroom apartment-- would be one unhappy duck.
- They actually go outside... Not just have access to outdoors. Most companies that advertise their eggs as "cage free" or "free range" are only using those terms in the sense that the Tobacco Industry uses terms like "low-tar cigarettes." The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) explains that,
"The truth is that the majority of egg labels have little relevance to animal welfare or, if they do, they have no official standards or any mechanism to enforce them."
"... the amount, duration, and quality of outdoor access is undefined."
Really, the only way to find out how the eggs you are about to eat were hatched is to ask.
So I end up asking a lot of questions, and it is a great way to get to know the farmers. They are usually excited to talk about their farms and practices. And after having spoken with many farmers, I have learned that even they cannot escape the grasp of the factory farming industry......... I'll write up today's experience at the farmers' market in part II.
