The dark side

Nothing to do with spooks and spirits but with a news story I read yesterday that was on my mind as I nipped round to the farm next door to score some fresh chicken pieces for supper. Our neighbours raise free range birds for the table which means that their chooks get to see the light of day and maybe even to scratch around in the dirt before they hit it. For eggs we do even better since my own hens lead a very natural life in the open air, coming and going exactly as they please. I like to assume they must be happy hens.

"Happy Eggs" is the name for a top of the range supermarket brand aimed at ethically-minded, caring folk who can afford to pay a bit more for eggs laid by humanely-raised birds rather than caged battery hens. But the news story that has just broken concerns the human beings who are recruited to work in these 'happy' chicken farms: migrant workers trafficked to the UK from Eastern Europe by gangmasters who keep them in debt bondage, force them to work up to 17 hours a shift, bus them all over the country and house them in sub-standard overcrowded accommodation. These bonded workers are subjected to exploitation, intimidation and outright assault, paid a pittance and denied the right to open bank accounts or apply for national insurance. Contracted out to work long hours on chicken farms without protective clothing, they are ordered to pick up 4 birds at a time in each hand for the sake of speed (so much for the happy hens whose happy eggs we complacently purchase.) The gangmaster company that has been providing the labour has had its license suspended while police investigate, however we have to assume that happiness is not always a warm egg.

(What you see here is a reversed image of my young white hen)