The Organic standards talk about flocks, colonies, units and houses, all very confusing. What you the consumer needs to know, is some basic information about how the product that you purchase has been produced. For instance, how many birds were on the farm that grew your chicken or egg? How many birds shared the house that your meat bird or egg layer lived in?

The Soil Association (UK5) who it is generally accepted have the highest Organic poultry standards allow 16000 meat birds per farm with no upper limit on egg layers. They allow 1000 meat birds or 2000 egg layers per house. Producers certified with other organisations (UK2 UK3 etc. etc.) are allowed even larger numbers up to 9000 birds per house!

Virtually all Organic poultry is fed an 85% Organic diet (would you buy a bottle of mineral water that had 15% tap water added?) There is no good reason for this other than a financial one. The fact that the industrial organic producers have so many birds in one place that the Organic ideal of them getting essential top ups to their diet from insects and invertebrates on the range is impossible, as any that are present have been consumed in next to no time.

Routine vaccination is banned under Soil Association standards. They state "you may only use vaccines when there is a known disease risk which you cannot control by other means." All of the diseases that the industrial Organic producers vaccinate against are "diseases of over intensification." There is good evidence to prove that in truly Organic systems i.e. smaller numbers of birds per house, less birds per farm and the poultry being part of a good organic rotation, so, no fixed or semi permanent housing. All of these diseases can be easily controlled, thereby eliminating totally the need for any vaccines. Soil Association standards also state "we may require you to decrease your housing unit size if there is a breakdown of health and welfare in the flock." We know of no instances of this standard ever being implemented and routine vaccination is still widespread.

Almost 100% of all organic laying hens and meat birds hatch from eggs that were produced by parent birds which live in industrial systems, never seeing grass or sunshine never going out. The male birds have their feed restricted to control their growth rate i.e. they are permanently hungry. This has come about because flatly refused to use real free range Organic breeding flocks. Any producers that have done the Organic thing and set up out door breeding flocks have very quickly gone out of business because the Certification bodies did not enforce the standard that stated " if Organic chicks are available then they must be used"

These are just some of the anomalies that are present in the Organic poultry world. We will be adding to and updating this site in the near future with information about beak tipping in egg laying hens, stocking densities, awful slaughtering methods and much more. If you would like contact us please email us at info@crop-uk.com

In the meantime what can you do to ensure that the Organic chicken or egg (or any other Organic poultry product) that you purchase is going to meet your expectations? If you buy directly from the producer you can ask him or her a few pertinent questions.

1) How many birds lived in the house that the meat bird or egg came from?
  (We recommend 500 or hopefully less)

2) What percentage organic feed did the bird or egg layer eat?
  (We think you deserve 100%)

3) What system did the parents of the meat bird or layer come from, was it industrial
  or was it free range Organic?

4) Was the bird or hen vaccinated, against which diseases and why?

Good luck with your hunt for some Real Organic Chicken and eggs they are a rare item indeed, but well worth the effort, and you will notice the difference if you have been buying the inferior industrially produced version.