As long as they continue to be delicious, who gives a shiat? It's not like a chicken serves any other purpose.

Cagey B: The prototype for this software is known as "Facebawk".

You BASTARD.

Bad journalism. The reporter should have got a quote from Maya Angelou.

Mkay, looks like I get to be the bleeding heart who has a 'cool story, bro'.

We have a flock of around 7 chickens at home, and they are absolutely the best farm animals you can have in an environment where others are not a possibility. Yes, they can be noisy (for example, there's one hen that the others don't like that much and they will hide from her while she calls), yes they aren't the brightest crayons in the box, but we haven't had Japanese Beetles around our lawn for years now, and the tick population has taken a huge hit, almost to the point where we don't need to Frontline our cats and dogs. Plus we get delicious eggs.

If you compare our free-range (and we're talking truly free-range, not the commercialized version they try to sell you at the market) eggs to the stuff you buy in the store, I can garuntee that you'll be horrified. Our eggs have clear whites (meaning no contamination from stress or bad food), and the yolks are ORANGE. Not that pasty white shiat you get from the store, but orange, meaning they're stuffed with the vitamins and fatty acids that do a body good.

So no, I don't think the chickens are happy. And I think I'd very happily pay 1.50 for the eggs I buy when I'm at college if it meant that the chickens were happy and healthy.



/pays the 3.60 for the free-range ones
//brings eggs from home whenever she can

Cagey B: As absurd as it sounds, there's a body of research on this very topic that could prove revolutionary in the production of eggs in poultry farms.

Scientists have found that chickens are surprisingly social animals; being isolated from other birds in cages, while increasing production efficiency and capacity, increases levels of stress in the chickens. This in turn lowers egg-laying rates and overall production.

The industry has developed a means of combating this problem using this research. An inexpensive LED display screen is installed in each cage, with a rudimentary microphone and a couple of buttons below. The chicken, simply by going about its typical business, can input various data such as bird calls and scratching motions, relaying information to other nearby chickens and providing a basic stimulus to other LED screens. The patterns of activity, routed through a special computer program, in effect, networks chickens in cages and mimics the social interaction of these birds.

The prototype for this software is known as "Facebawk".

GQR!

/guffawed quite robustly

Spindle: We have four chickens ourselves. The eggs we get from them are definitely noticeably different than store bought eggs. Plus, they are a surprisingly cool backyard pet. You can pretty much ignore them except to open and close the chicken coop and they're perfectly happy. The kids love 'em, my oldest son can go out and pick one up and carry it like a football and the chickens make no attempt to run away. Actually, they like to get in the house because then they can eat the leftover cat food. Yes, they crap on the floor sometimes, but a paper towel can clean up the linoleum in short order.

Your floor sounds shiatty.

Pictures of our old chickens, because I'm bored and at work.

just one left, she free ranges over 2 acres. Wakes me up each morning at the back door, wants her ration of a bread slice. It seems to0 be like crack for the chickens. Handfed, she gets insulted if I simply throw on the ground.

Nightmaretony: just one left, she free ranges over 2 acres. Wakes me up each morning at the back door, wants her ration of a bread slice. It seems to0 be like crack for the chickens. Handfed, she gets insulted if I simply throw on the ground.

Hehe, ours go nuts if they don't get their daily ration of stale bread. Of course, we have to lock up the idiot dogs or they'll steal it from the chickens

/chickens get their revenge by stealing dog and cat food whenever possible
//our chickens aren't cannibals, noooo

Spindle, I got my bird a diaper. Problem solved.

Karmacidal: Spindle, I got my bird a diaper. Problem solved.

... head_asplode.gif

That is adorable.

Assistant: Well they certainly look happy. In fact they seem to be grinning from ear to ear.

Professor Chicken: They aren't smiling you blithering idiot, we cut their beaks off so they would stop pecking each other's eyes out.

Spindle: Krymson Tyde:

Your floor sounds shiatty.

Nah, not really, they don't really crap all that much to begin with and we don't leave them in the house that long anyway.

Do you know anyone that has ferrets and lets them run around the house for any amount of time? They are *much* worse for crapping everywhere, and much messier.

We have a cockatiel who likes to shiat on me as soon as he gets the opportunity.

BrynnMacFlynn: If you compare our free-range (and we're talking truly free-range, not the commercialized version they try to sell you at the market) eggs to the stuff you buy in the store, I can garuntee that you'll be horrified. Our eggs have clear whites (meaning no contamination from stress or bad food), and the yolks are ORANGE. Not that pasty white shiat you get from the store, but orange, meaning they're stuffed with the vitamins and fatty acids that do a body good.

I've bought free-range chicken eggs directly from farmers at the local market, so I'll back up the "orange yolk" bit. It's not just that. When you open the eggs, the yolks are rounder and firmer compared to grocery store eggs. The difference, shape-wise, is like looking at a 19-year-old's firm healthy boob vs. a 90-year-old's flappy bag. The yolk's also thicker. I made french "freedom" toast with the free-range eggs and despite them being larger, I ran through 3 eggs in 7 slices because the stuff was so rich and thick. Grocery store eggs are soupier so I usually have some left over after 8.

I dunno if caged chickens are happy, but I doubt they are, if only because it's painfully obvious the free-range chickens are healthier.

/ really, really good french "freedom" toast

dragonchild: I've bought free-range chicken eggs directly from farmers at the local market, so I'll back up the "orange yolk" bit. It's not just that. When you open the eggs, the yolks are rounder and firmer compared to grocery store eggs. The difference, shape-wise, is like looking at a 19-year-old's firm healthy boob vs. a 90-year-old's flappy bag. The yolk's also thicker. I made french "freedom" toast with the free-range eggs and despite them being larger, I ran through 3 eggs in 7 slices because the stuff was so rich and thick. Grocery store eggs are soupier so I usually have some left over after 8.

I dunno if caged chickens are happy, but I doubt they are, if only because it's painfully obvious the free-range chickens are healthier.

/ really, really good french "freedom" toast

You know you're making good chocolate chip cookies when the dough/batter is yellowy from the eggs. :D

Cock-a-ring-a-vibratin'-doo

notmtwain: Chickens are like delicious with onions.

BrynnMacFlynn: Nightmaretony: just one left, she free ranges over 2 acres. Wakes me up each morning at the back door, wants her ration of a bread slice. It seems to0 be like crack for the chickens. Handfed, she gets insulted if I simply throw on the ground.

Hehe, ours go nuts if they don't get their daily ration of stale bread. Of course, we have to lock up the idiot dogs or they'll steal it from the chickens

/chickens get their revenge by stealing dog and cat food whenever possible
//our chickens aren't cannibals, noooo

you ever get any bully chickens or totally rtarded ones that have nothing better to do than attack every other chicken in their way? Had a couple of that kind. Pecking order is one thing, but some make a full time job of it. Those kind don't last long at my place....