Be fair to the chickens

OK, you probably do not spend a lot of time thinking about chickens, the egg you eat at breakfast, the types of chickens and the color of the eggs. For a long time, brown eggs were believed healthier. Then there is the American world-beater Rhode Island red, now the global No. 1 preferred breed (for eggs and meat). And so on … chickens and eggs are a big part of our lives.The problem with chickens is that they are messy when confined, suffer terrible psychological and physical stress when caged or packed tightly. And whenever some do-gooder organization shows pictures of battery hens’ conditions, egg sales slump and chicken producers slaughter and discard thousands of birds into landfills. And it has to be said — and here I speak as one who kept chickens and ducks for almost 20 years — that chickens can be the most clean, industrious tick eaters (no Lyme disease on our farm), good parents, fearless protectors and fine egg producers when kept outdoors during the day.Years ago, several European countries, whose citizens were revolted by images of deformed legs and concentration camp-like conditions of battery hen farms, took a binding vote and passed laws that told farmers they could no longer keep chickens in cages. They also mandated a minimum square yardage per chicken in any pen. Farmers predicted that egg prices would triple, that egg and chicken (for meat) production would become scarce, the sky would fall, the world was over, etc.They were wrong. Three years later, the same numbers of eggs were being produced by the same number of chickens, there was 300 percent less disease (and fewer antibiotics being administered), the egg content was 14 percent higher in protein, and the feed bill was reduced by 10 percent on average in Switzerland alone. So, why had they been so convinced battery cages were the more productive way to go?What the farmers reluctantly admitted, in hindsight, was that improvements in feed content and improvements in egg handling that took place at the same time they started using cages … well, cages were wrongfully given the credit. Given the same food on open ground, in the sunlight, eating bugs and greenery, these same poor chickens started producing better than they had in cages.OK, there are a few downsides. Instead of acres of barns, they have one barn for nighttime and loads of open space for the day. In the barns, they have nests that allow the eggs to make their way to processing. All that construction had to be paid for. Hawks and foxes sometimes take birds now, too, but as one farmer told me, they lose less a day than they used to lose to disease.So why am I bringing this up? Arizona and a few other states are successfully fighting the cage/no cage battle in the legislature. New York and Connecticut spend tons of money on state troopers responding to cruelty complaints against battery farms. Advocates against this cruelty spend tons of charity money opposing battery farming. And yet, since it has been proven that more profit can be made from getting rid of battery farming, instead of helping the farmers recapitalize their farms to open range design, each side spends money opposing the other. Meanwhile, the chickens suffer on, making your breakfast egg.Peter Riva, formerly of Amenia Union, lives in New Mexico.