National chicken population

[OilSheikh]

How many chickens do we have in the country ?
There's a Chicken n chip shop at every corner in London and they get flocked from morning till night. And, let's not forget KFC, McDonalds, Nandos and all the other restaurants.

Do we import chicken from outside to meet this demand ?


N.B. Please don't confuse yourself with chicks. We have more than enough in Essex.

[SeriousSam]

There are more chickens than people in the UK and yet we still have to import more in order to meet demand...

[peterb]

I vaguely remember a documentary or something on this subject.

IIRC, chicken 'products' (i.e. chicken breast, thighs and processed chicken) tends to be imported, particularly for the fast food market, while whole chicken tend to be exported. But the meat import/export trade is complicated anyway as was shown during the horseburger debacle.

[TheAnimus]

I remember someone saying that we wouldn't have enough land if we turned the whole of the UK into a giant farm, to have free range chickens, to satisfy our demand.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Much of the chicken we eat comes from Thailand and Brazil.

[TheAnimus]

What about the Mooses?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What about the Mooses?

Its hard to say,they seem to phase in and out of reality.....and roads.

[OilSheikh]

From the net :
More than 800 million chickens are raised and killed for meat yearly (about 2.1m per day) in the UK. The average consumer eats 170 eggs per year.

#Standard chickens are grown from newly hatched chick to oven-ready bird in an astonishing 39 days, that’s just over 5 weeks. (An organic chicken, which grows at a natural pace, takes more than twice as long.)

Poultry scientists have bred chickens which grow fast. As they grow, their living space – smaller than an A4 piece of paper for each bird – gets more and more cramped as they near the end of their short lives. With around 17 birds packed into each square metre they have barely enough space to walk, preen themselves, stretch their wings or even turn around.
Such cramped conditions and rapid growth cause severe welfare problems. Chronic lameness is common – one third of chickens have difficulty walking without pain. The stress on their hearts and lungs can cause heart failure. About 5% die or have to be culled prematurely.
A typical chicken shed holds 40,000 birds… They never set foot outside or see natural light… They feed around the clock - with as little as one hour of darkness for every 24 hour period.
It’s not nice – but it’s certainly cheap. And THAT is how Tesco can afford to offer you two whole birds for a fiver… Or how Asda can sell a whole fresh British chicken for £2.

[opel80uk]

From the net :
More than 800 million chickens are raised and killed for meat yearly (about 2.1m per day) in the UK. The average consumer eats 170 eggs per year.

#Standard chickens are grown from newly hatched chick to oven-ready bird in an astonishing 39 days, that’s just over 5 weeks. (An organic chicken, which grows at a natural pace, takes more than twice as long.)

Poultry scientists have bred chickens which grow fast. As they grow, their living space – smaller than an A4 piece of paper for each bird – gets more and more cramped as they near the end of their short lives. With around 17 birds packed into each square metre they have barely enough space to walk, preen themselves, stretch their wings or even turn around.
Such cramped conditions and rapid growth cause severe welfare problems. Chronic lameness is common – one third of chickens have difficulty walking without pain. The stress on their hearts and lungs can cause heart failure. About 5% die or have to be culled prematurely.
A typical chicken shed holds 40,000 birds… They never set foot outside or see natural light… They feed around the clock - with as little as one hour of darkness for every 24 hour period.
It’s not nice – but it’s certainly cheap. And THAT is how Tesco can afford to offer you two whole birds for a fiver… Or how Asda can sell a whole fresh British chicken for £2.

As an aside, when I worked for my Dad's building company in the summer during my college days, one job was above a Dallas Chicken joint, and it overlooked the back yard of the shop where, as it was a very hot summer, the workers done a lot of their tasks. To this day, I have never eaten in one of those type of chicken shops. It was putrid. I'm sure you could say that about many places if we saw what took place, but ignorance is bliss, and what I saw in that shop put me off for life.

[sammyc]

^ Ignorance might be bliss but everyone that eats meat should theoretically be prepared to see or at least confront & acknowledge all sides of what the meat trade involves. It's just not excusable imo to skirt completely round the nasty bits. Just seen yet another story in my local rag about how much schoolkiddies enjoyed having newborn lambs bought in for a visit to learn about new life & skippy hoppy springtime. New life, yeah, then home for lamb chops. Explain the full deal to them why don't you. Too upsetting? Well then I guess that tells you something.

In short, IF you are going to eat it, face the facts, and IF you are still happy, then carry on. I still won't agree with you mind you, but it's the least you can ask. I reckon.

/off soapbox.