The Ethics behind keeping Pure Breeds of Poultry

http://tamandcofarm.com

The recent trend towards suburban households choosing to keep a few hens in the backyard seems to have come about as a result of the increasing popularity of permaculture based gardening systems, as well as the raised interest in quality Organic and Biodynamic Produce. The pending threat of ‘Peak Oil’ has also prompted many people to question food security and their ability to grow their own food in preparation for a post-oil world.

After many months of planning and getting the chicken coop ready, complete with nesting boxes, roosts and a spacious day run, many first timers are often quite at a loss as to where to get their chooks from. 

Whatever happened to the simplicity of our grandparents' times in contrast with today's hectic lifestyles? Unfortunately, the demand for fast growing, high producing and cheap produce in modern society, more than ever evident in today’s poultry industry, has also influenced for many, the choice of hens kept for backyard egg production. With food being so readily available and incredibly cheap in relation to its production costs, no longer is it necessary to consider a fowl’s utility qualities or tendency towards broodiness in order to maintain a sustainable backyard flock. Chicks can now be artificially reared and the old retired hen is no longer considered a tasty meal for a hungry family.

The new breeds, or rather ‘hybrid strains’ as they are more correctly termed, developed by multinational companies have dominated the commercial poultry industry to such an extent that one company in particular together with its subsidiary companies, acquisitions and affiliations, now supplies over 65% of the world’s brown-egg market, 35% of the world’s white-egg market, and 15% of the world’s broiler market. There are 4 commercial strains currently supplying the Australian egg market accounting for a whopping 98% of all egg layers in Australia and all of which produce brown eggs as a result of consumer preference.

The Rare Breeds Trust of Australia (RBTA) has been established with the aim “to protect and encourage the conservation and breeding of endangered domestic farm livestock in Australia to ensure their survival worldwide”. Included in their endangered and threatened lists are many breeds of poultry that fanciers keep and regularly see at poultry shows. The RBTA website states

“Accurate statistics regarding the numbers of breeds of purebred poultry and waterfowl in Australia are not available, however best estimates would suggest that whilst about eight commercial hybrid breeds are responsible for 95% of Australia’s egg and broiler production, around 100 distinctly different breeds produce less than 5%.”

The choice to keep and breed pure breeds of poultry is much the same as the decision to plant ‘open pollinated’, ‘non-hybrid’ varieties of vegetables. More often these hybrids when bred together, don’t breed true to type but will produce a variety of characteristics similar to those of the parent breeds.  In the case of poultry, those subsequent generations will never provide the same laying or meat production qualities as the parent birds. This can be likened to way hybrid varieties of tomato plants when allowed to self seed, only seem to produce cherry or grape sized tomatoes in no way resembling the parent fruit, often leading the gardener to wonder where they came from.  Commercial hybrid genetics is PATENTED, allowing their monopolisation of the world’s food industry.

Hybrid crossbred genetics currently dominate in both commercial egg laying and broiler production systems in Australia, with 4 hybrid breeds of birds accounting for approximately 98% of all egg layers.

In 2000, it was estimated that the 25 million dozen eggs produced by backyard egg producers accounted for only 0.1% of all eggs produced in Australia. It should not be overlooked however that the producers of these 25 million dozen eggs are also guardians of the vast majority of the diversity in poultry breed genetics in Australia. It is significant that this valuable genetic material is currently being held by a large number of breeders and not concentrated with governments or multinational corporations.

Sourcing pure breeds of poultry is not as straight forward for the uninitiated backyard poultry keeper as one might think. Many feed and produce stores now conveniently stock a few point of lay commercial hybrid layers from time to time making it easy for the potential buyer to settle on these, in preference of pure bred poultry which may prove quite a bit more difficult to source. They are cheap in comparison to pure bred poultry, and promoted according to their exceptional laying qualities. In all fairness to the birds, they are only doing what they’ve been bred to do, but an uninformed buyer may not realise that buying these birds over a pure breed, indirectly supports commercial hybridisation, and if one really wants to be even more critical, the caged egg industry as well.

It’s obviously a personal and individual choice as to which breed one chooses to keep, but many backyard owners of commercial hybrid layers admit that had they've been fully informed at the time of their purchase, their choice may well have been different. 

Commercial hybrid strains of poultry are high producers and as such require a higher level of protein in their diet in order to support this level of production. Consequences of such an unnaturally high production, especially if accompanied with inadequate diet, is a shorter than normal life expectancy and the risk of developing a ‘chook’ equivalent of osteoporosis due to the physical burden placed on their bodies. On outward appearances, one of the tell tail signs that these birds are struggling physically is their apparent inability to fully recover after a moult. In order to increase production, the instinct to brood has almost entirely been bred out of these commercial hybrid layers also. This characteristic alone necessitates human intervention for procreation and survival, not entirely a sustainable scenario for the backyard flock situation.

Fanciers are quite used to seeing pure breeds of poultry on display in their show pens, but more recently, it has become more difficult for the general population to acquire pure bred birds for their backyard flocks. Many of them, even with the very best of intentions, simply give up with frustration and resort to those which are easy to get, and cheap. I know first hand how frustrating this can be. My own search for Australorps took 4 years and many efforts before I managed to source my original breeding trio. Let’s NOT place all of our eggs in one basket, and give our pure breeds a fighting chance of survival.

Acknowledgements:

Rare Breeds Trust of Australia

http://www.rbta.org/Pdf%20Files/RBTA%20%20Breeds%20Status%20Report%202006.pdf

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada – Poultry Marketplace

http://www.agr.gc.ca/poultry/brpr-elpr_e.htm

United Nations Press Release DSG/SM/237 OBV/446 SAG/305

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/dsgsm237.doc.htm