Sunday, March 31, 2013

Chicken on the Grill

A chicken house fire has killed 37,000 chicks at a farm in Rockingham County.

Rockingham County Fire Chief Jeremy Holloway tells WHSV-TV...that the cause of the fire hasn't been determined. But he believes it began in the utility room around a computer system that runs the heater...

The fire broke out around 5 a.m. Saturday.

Shawn Rhodes and his family live on the farm. He says they were in bed when they got a fire temperature alarm. They went to check on the building, saw that it was on fire and called 911.

Rhodes says his family will start cleaning up Monday and will try to rebuild.
"We will rebuild." I hope for their sakes they're able to salvage something; if they're like most chicken farmers, then the Rhodeses are deeply, deeply in debt, and with no real way to climb out of debt save for bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, over at safefoodinc.org, an apologist mouthpiece for industrial agriculture, it is opined:
Broilers (young meat chickens) are not raised in cages. They are raised in large, open structures known as grow out houses. These houses are equipped with mechanical systems to deliver feed and water to the birds and have environmental systems to provide a comfortable and productive environment, including ventilation systems and heaters that function as needed, most often with micro-processor controls...

Keeping birds inside a house protects them from predators such as hawks and foxes. Some houses are equipped with curtain walls, which can be rolled up in good weather to admit natural light and fresh air. In that case, a fine mesh screen keeps rodents and wild birds out of the house and away from the broilers. Such bio-security measures are critical to ensuring the health of the flock.
Apparently the "critical" "bio-security measures" of a broiler house don't even include a sprinkler system with which to put out fires. Ah, the logic of industry!

1 comment:

  1. Wow, I briefly visited the gaping anus of obfuscation that is safefoodinc.org, only to be repulsed from the page within minutes. Are they really touting their mass-produced government trough-slop by claiming it has a better record of "bio-security" and reducing "carbon footprints?" Is this real?

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