08/08/2026
I feel compelled to say a word or two regarding the Netflix documentary, “Big Chicken”… The gist is, a British man, who happens to be a comedian, loves fried chicken, and he chooses to eat fried chicken for every meal for 30 days….in America. It’s interesting and I recommend it.
Ok, so maybe you’ve seen the documentary about McDonalds called “Super Size Me” from 2004 and we know this all doesn’t end well… This one is somewhat similar, but delves specifically into the chicken industry.
One thing that made me pause the show is… the “chicken catchers”… these are migrant workers (in this particular case) who simply pick up meat birds and put them into transport cages… you’ve seen them on highways from time to time, the white chickens packed into crates loaded on tractor trailers. And this lady is saying how chickens are “vicious,” and how hard of a job it is… ‼️‼️I’m about to have a coronary! The meat birds in question are Cornish Cross - created to grow fast and be meaty. I’ve raised many, many Cornish Cross, as well as three other breeds of dual purpose chickens. Let me tell you right now, Cornish Cross are the most docile of all chickens I’ve raised, meat and layer. They’re the easiest to process and I will never again process any other type of chicken but Cornish Cross, ever. If you didn’t know otherwise, you’d think… “oh! These poor workers!” No, not true.
And they show chickens who “can’t stand” because of their weight and it’s a bird that weighs maybe two pounds! Granted it’s been raised in a CAFA house and unaccustomed to moving at all but to eat and drink. In our world, a BIG bird is 6lbs! Ours are pasture raised so they’re used to moving around like normal chickens do, so they can get large without the dire consequences of their own weight!
Anyhoo… I gotta defend my birds. They’re great! Ya, they stink a bit and p**p A LOT, but they’re extra cared for and I’ll never, ever purchase chicken from a grocery store again when I can raise the real deal right here on our property.
But, I digress… Key point here… stay far away from fast food, over processed chicken!!! I certainly don’t want to create more work for myself, as being licensed for poultry slaughter, but farm raised, fresh chicken is among the best tasting foods you’ll ever eat.