Which Came First? by Susan L.

  A&W, the burger joint, has an ad campaign going on for their bacon and egg breakfasts. They are celebrating the fact that their eggs come from chickens that are fed a vegetable diet. The big question that I don't have an answer to is: why?
  Chickens are omnivores. They eat everything and anything from toads and snakes, insects, vegetables, grasses, and grains to each other should one show signs of illness or injury. Gravel helps them digest all these things. When we were on the farm and had a selection of free range chickens and other fowl wandering about the yard, kitchen scraps and leftovers were tossed out the back door for them to eat. Nothing was left except bigger bones and maybe potato skins. I quickly discovered their favorite food was Kraft macaroni and cheese. The squabbles and fights that used to break out over that treat were hilarious! I also used to wonder how many pounds of sand and grit were pilfered from the driveway each year.
  This ad campaign has filled me with a whole slew of questions. What supplements are the chickens being fed to maintain their health? Are they chemical, hormonal or steroids? Are they oil bi-products? Does A&W, in its decision to flaunt the "high road" of vegetarianism, get its eggs from humanely raised birds or do they buy them from massive commercial enterprises? This means the birds are stacked assembly line fashion: row upon row of small wire cages with barely room for the bird to sit down. For their short and miserable lives they lay two eggs a day because of an artificial twelve hour day/night rotation.
  It doesn't take long for them to burn out.
  Britain is leaps and bounds ahead of us in regards to this matter by out and out banning intensive farming for most livestock not just chickens.
   I feel a bit hypocritical. I buy commercial eggs because they are cheaper, handy and I honestly don't think my local grocery store offers the humanely raised alternative. It's something to investigate. I will take my own advice and start asking for them or find a local source offering free range eggs. Change can begin one dozen at a time.
  "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it." Gen 2:15