Monday, October 6, 2014

Chicken stuff


Chickens are more than four times bigger than they were 50 years ago, thanks to commercial breeders like Perdue.

But today’s Gallus gallus domesticus is not four times healthier.



Researchers at the University of Alberta, Canada, started a chicken project in 1957, raising standard breeds on a controlled diet in controlled conditions. In 1978, they did the same thing with a common breed in that year, using exactly the same diet and growing conditions. In 2005, ditto.

The 2005 birds averaged 9 ¼ pounds, more than 4.5 times heavier than the 1957 breed that weighed in at 2 pounds, thanks to selective breeding by the commercial farms.

Here’s the other bad news, from Vox.com:

The big modern chickens have more bone, heart and immune system health issues than the birds of the 1950s, in part because they’re carrying around all that extra weight.

The big commercial breeders don’t see that as a big problem—use of antibiotics is widespread, to keep the chickens alive while they grow huge and lay eggs.

100 years ago Americans ate about 10 pounds of chicken per capita each year. Now, the average American eats 83 pounds of chicken annually—that’s more than 1 ½ pounds a week.

You might be happier eating a lot more chicken, but the chickens aren’t singing any songs….

  






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