[transformed]

I went to the grocery store today and looked at the "natural" chicken and I guess I was looking for it to be organic or something. (I'd like for it to say "This chicken was not fed arsenic"

)

It didnt really say anything special except "Hormone free"

: And it was $3 more per lb than the regular chicken.

I am kind of confused. Chicken doesnt have hormones added, does it?

Help me out. What am I looking for in healthy chicken?

 

[mamadelbosque]

Any chicken that just says 'natural' and 'hormone free' or 'vegetarian fed chickens' is just a frigging scam to charge more. They're still housed in awful conditions fed crappy things... I wouldn't bother paying extra vs plain old tyson or gerber, personally.

 

[dogmom327]

Quote:

Originally Posted by transformed I went to the grocery store today and looked at the "natural" chicken and I guess I was looking for it to be organic or something. (I'd like for it to say "This chicken was not fed arsenic" ) It didnt really say anything special except "Hormone free" : And it was $3 more per lb than the regular chicken. I am kind of confused. Chicken doesnt have hormones added, does it? Help me out. What am I looking for in healthy chicken?

I believe hormones are illegal (don't stop them from touting hormone free like it's a badge of honor though). Personally I look for chickens that are antibiotic free, were pastured or close to it (outside, in a large pen or running around free), able to eat at least some grass, bugs, etc. Fed the best feed I can afford (right now it's local feed but not entirely organic--hoping for soy free one of these days). But being picky like that has a price. There are a couple of farms around here that produce chickens like I want and they only sell once a year so I have to buy a year worth of chicken at once.

 

[Pinky Tuscadero]

Pastured. You want chicken that has been raised outside where it can eat grass and bugs. "Access to pasture" is not enough. I have read that chickens that are raised indoors will not realize that they actually *can* go outside when presented the opportunity. "Access to pasture" means once or twice a day someone opens the door. The chickens don't realize they should go out so they don't, but the company can say they provide access to it.
Also, "cage free" doen't mean they go outside either. It means they live in a barn full of 10,000 other chickens not in cages. Not good enough!
You want chickens that actually spend their time outside most of the day.

 

[Pinky Tuscadero]

Oh, and vegetarian feed is not what chickens want. They are actually quite the carnivore. They eat lots of bugs, worms and even small frogs/toads/lizards when they can catch them. They also eat a surprising amount of grass and other greens. They adore buttercups!

 

[tanyalynn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky Tuscadero Oh, and vegetarian feed is not what chickens want. They are actually quite the carnivore. They eat lots of bugs, worms and even small frogs/toads/lizards when they can catch them. They also eat a surprising amount of grass and other greens. They adore buttercups!

But the frustrating part is when you have to make budgetary compromises. Vegetarian feed isn't ideal, but compared to feed that may be partly ground chicken itself, well, that's not natural either, yk?

No great answer, unless you've got the money to find pastured chicken. In general, for that, it seems like prices are a lot better at farmer's markets or directly from farmers some other way, instead of through a grocery store. We get really good eggs, noticeably better than anything at the grocery store, and at about half the price of the high-end grocery store kind, from a farmer's market.

 

[Magelet]

When its available and I can afford it (its expensive, and not year round, though at the farmers market, it really isn't any more expensive than those "organic air chilled chickens" at whole foods, or whatever. like 20-25 dollars a chicken though.), I buy them from the farmers market. I don't have the space or money to buy a years worth of chickens at once right now though. If I could get them year round, I probably would build into my budget splurge money for these chickens, and stretch the chickens and broth really really far. they aren't availible year round, so I can't/don't most of the time.

Most of the time, I get Rocky or Rosie jr chickens. They are reasonably priced, and considered "good" out of best, good, and avoid on 2008's WAPF shopping guide. I don't know why they are "good" (maybe because they are fed vegetarian feed instead of animal (read cow's that were fed chickens, and chicken) byproducts?). I think WAPF's guide says they are organic? though I don't know that that is the case. they also recomend as good chickens: pollo real and shelton's as well as trader joe's.

Last year's guide, the "best" ones (maybe not suppermarket availible) were (of course in addition to locally produced by small farms) hendricks farms, natural acres,peaceful pastures, polyface, rainbow acres, sustainable living acres, willow hills, and maybe others.

 

[Alyantavid]

We get the antibiotic free chicken. I don't know that "organic" or "pastured" chicken in the store is necessarily as great as people think it is. We only buy it on sale, and buy lots so it doesn't end costing all that much. I can get whole, pastured, organic chicken from the farmer's market (and I actually believe that packaging because I've seen where they live) but its way too spendy right now.

 

[karne]

I tend to buy Bell and Evan's when I get chicken's from the grocery store. I didn't know about the WAPF list though, so I'm going to check that out.

This is one of the reason's I'm raising my own meat birds this year.

 

[hummingmom]

Here's my personal ranking system, which is based on our family's understanding of a variety of health and ethical issues.

Local pastured chicken from family farms - $$$/$$$$, hard to get
Local organic chicken - $$$
Other organic chicken (Coleman, TJ's, etc.) - $$/$$$

Frozen pastured chicken, shipped in from elsewhere -- $$$$
Local "free range/natural" chicken - $$
Other "free range/natural" chicken (TJ's, etc.) -- $$

Unlabeled chicken from ethnic supermarkets, etc. - $
Name-brand supermarket chicken (Tyson, etc.) - $

-----

Around here, the better grocery stores sell both "free range" and "organic" chicken from the same local producer. I've noticed a big difference in quality between the two kinds. Most notably, the organic chicken still smells fresh after 2 or 3 days in the fridge, while the free range stuff starts developing an "off" smell within 24 hours. (Having spent several months on an elimination diet where I ate mostly chicken, rice, and vegetables, I've had plenty of opportunities to confirm this observation.) Both kinds of chicken are delivered on the same day, in the same truck, and I always buy them on that day... so there has to be some kind of inherent difference.

I've also noticed this about the TJ's organic vs. free-range whole chickens. The organic always smells fine when I open the package, but the free range is often a bit whiffy, even if it's a few days before the sell-by date. It smells okay after it's been rinsed off, but still, it just doesn't seem as fresh or "happy looking," IYKWIM.

Something interesting I've heard (though I'm not 100% sure about this) is that the standards for organic chicken require that they get some daily time on pasture. This isn't true of egg-layers, though... just chickens that are sold for meat. If this is true, it would explain the difference in freshness. Grass-fed animals have higher levels of vitamin E, which is a natural anti-oxidant. (This is why supermarket lard is hydrogenated, and has BHA and BHT added. The fat from grain-fed pigs and cattle goes rancid very quickly. OTOH, traditional lard from grass-fed animals will keep for months.)

 

[transformed]

jeez man. The food system shouldnt be so hard to navigate.

I have food stamps so have to buy from a store (not a local farm - none of ours take them)

Its a 1 hour drive to whole foods and the local hfs doesnt have chicken (I think they get stock intermitantly.)

I am kind of pissed about this "All Natural" chicken being $3 more though. Most people wouldnt question that for a moment. Kind of thinking about sending a letter to the editor of the local newspaper or something.