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Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

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Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#81

Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging. When consumers would see those scruffy chicken for $2 compared to the healthy $7 they might choose the organic ones more often. Killed and unfeathered they all look the same.

While I agree with the sentiment, in the long run that would just lead to quick-growing chickens that look nice but are as unhealthy as they are now. See "purebreed" dogs.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#82

Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging. When consumers would see those scruffy chicken for $2 compared to the healthy $7 they might choose the organic ones more often. Killed and unfeathered they all look the same.

This reminded me of the "Colin the Chicken" skit on Portlandia where a couple ordering chicken gets to see its birth certificate, diet, emotional profile, heritage and family...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__PVLB8Nm4

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#83

Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging. When consumers would see those scruffy chicken for $2 compared to the healthy $7 they might choose the organic ones more often. Killed and unfeathered they all look the same.

I would not pay 3.5× as much for chicken just to look at a nice photo.

Chicken breast in Europe costs about $7-10/kg. I'm not made of money, I can't afford $30/kg chicken.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#84

Wow, 39 is much shorter than I expected. I guess it makes sense, because how else could you keep up with demand, but my view of animal lifecycles only has stuff like bugs fully maturing so quickly. Interesting stuff. Now my question is why are bananas so cheap? They come all the way from like Brazil, but they're still cheaper than the apple that is grown just a couple hours from me.

With an impending disease that is wiping out Cavendish (the most popular kind of banana), they may not be cheap for long! http://freakonomics.com/podcast/bananas/

Can be solved with genetic engineering:

https://www.accessscience.com/content/genetic-engineering-of...

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#85

because chickens are cheap to feed and breed you don't need automation to make it cheap My family used to breed any sort of livestock, from chickens to lambs, from cows to pigs, from rabbits to pigeons High quality meat, just for the family chickens are by far the cheapest and easiest (rabbits get sick easily, pigs eat a lot, cows need a lot of work to keep them clean etc. etc.)

Right, but why are they the cheapest form of meat? There’s probably some biochemical or energy utilization reason. Perhaps it has to do with chickens being fairly lean meat. I don’t know, but have often wondered.

One of the reasons is that you raise them for weeks, not months.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#86

Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging. When consumers would see those scruffy chicken for $2 compared to the healthy $7 they might choose the organic ones more often. Killed and unfeathered they all look the same.

In Europe, people still buy cigarettes as much as before even though they're generic and covered with morbid pictures of various gruesome diseases.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#87
post #37
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends how you define success. > By evolving to Being selected to by us > they have convinced humans to feed and house them No, humans have constructed chickens to meet our requirements, minimising the amount we need to house them (e.g. killing them at a few weeks old).

Human are part of nature too, so yes they evolved.

Personally I would say they "were bred" rather than they "evolved" because it's the result of artificial selection, rather than natural selection.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#88

because chickens are cheap to feed and breed you don't need automation to make it cheap My family used to breed any sort of livestock, from chickens to lambs, from cows to pigs, from rabbits to pigeons High quality meat, just for the family chickens are by far the cheapest and easiest (rabbits get sick easily, pigs eat a lot, cows need a lot of work to keep them clean etc. etc.)

Right, but why are they the cheapest form of meat? There’s probably some biochemical or energy utilization reason. Perhaps it has to do with chickens being fairly lean meat. I don’t know, but have often wondered.

Contrasting against Pigs and Cows:

1. Small animal which requires less bone structure to support (bone scales non-linearly with mass for land animals).

2. Shorter lifespan and use of eggs allows simpler and quicker sexual selection.

3. Less intelligent animal so less energy and nutrition spent on growing the brain and maintaining its function.

Its a smaller animal, basically. Fish and insects are more efficient than chickens.

https://ib.bioninja.com.au/_Media/feed-conversion_med.jpeg

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#89

Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging. When consumers would see those scruffy chicken for $2 compared to the healthy $7 they might choose the organic ones more often. Killed and unfeathered they all look the same.

In Europe, people still buy cigarettes as much as before even though they're generic and covered with morbid pictures of various gruesome diseases.

Not sure any body is actually addicted to chicken in the same way

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#90

Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging. When consumers would see those scruffy chicken for $2 compared to the healthy $7 they might choose the organic ones more often. Killed and unfeathered they all look the same.

>Maybe Farmers should be required to print a photo of the actual living bird and their habitat on the packaging.

I didn't see anything that would've driven me from buying that $2 chicken though.

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