"Oakham Chicken


All Marks & Spencer fresh chicken is Oakham™ Chicken which is produced exclusively for M&S

All our fresh Oakham™ chickens are produced on known, specially selected farms in the UK. We even put the name of the farmer and the country where the bird was reared on our whole bird packaging.

The Oakham™ chicken has been specifically chosen for its slower growth. It is this slower growth when combined with the birds’ bespoke diet, rich in cereals (wheat, maize, barley), soya and the high maize content which produces an improved flavour and succulence.

All Marks & Spencer fresh Oakham™ chicken is produced in the UK on farms which are known to us and are regularly inspected by specially trained auditors from within our suppliers and by Marks & Spencer technologists. All our chicken farms are inspected to ensure they meet the requirements of Marks & Spencer’s own Codes of Practice. Our welfare standards are based on the recommendations of the Farm Animal Welfare Council and have been developed in liaison with animal welfare organisations.

In terms of how the birds are housed, firstly you can be assured that no chickens are housed in cages. Oakham™ chickens are reared in controlled environment barns. The birds are housed on straw or wood shavings and have constant access to food and water. The temperature and lighting levels inside the barn are controlled by the farmer. We know that giving birds plenty of space is important and we have therefore adopted the Farm Animal Welfare Council’s recommendations on stocking density, therefore housing the birds at a maximum stocking density of 30kg/m2.

We know that in addition to giving the birds plenty of space to move around the environment needs to stimulate activity. The environment in which the birds are housed is enriched to encourage bird movement and activity. In addition to using the lighting inside the house to create activity we insist on the use of straw bales inside the barns which the birds use to roost and perch on – they also pull and peck at the straw.

Our Oakham™ Free-range chickens are housed in similar straw bedded barns to our Oakham™ chickens. In addition they have constant daytime access to the range on which they are free to roam. In the free-range system the internal house stocking density is 27kg/m2 and the area of range is determined on the basis of 1m2 per bird. To encourage birds to use the range area and to provide shelter our farmers use tree planting and whilst the trees are maturing use wig wams made from conifer branches, which the birds use for shade, shelter and protection.

With regard to the feed fed to Marks & Spencer Oakham™ chickens, Marks & Spencer has developed its own Code of Practice for poultry feed. This ensures birds are fed a wholesome diet to maintain optimum health and welfare. All poultry feed used by Marks & Spencer poultry farmers comes from known, independently audited feedmills. Because of these strict controls we know exactly what Marks & Spencer Oakham™ chickens are fed.

Our fresh chickens are fed a non-GM predominantly cereal based feed ration containing a combination of wheat, barley, maize, soya and other plant proteins, as well as vitamins and minerals. Marks & Spencer prohibits the addition of any animal or avian derived by-products in any of its poultry feed. This applies to the breeding birds as well as the growing chickens.

In addition, for many years Marks & Spencer has prohibited the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in the feed rations of all of its poultry and other livestock."

http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/no...&mnSBrand=core

"2003 survey of higher welfare chicken products
The RSPCA fresh chicken product survey asked supermarkets to list the products they sold that met the higher welfare criteria specified by the RSPCA.

# Marks & Spencer stocks 'Oakham Gold free-range chicken' and 'Organic free-range chicken' which meet higher welfare criteria including six hours of darkness per 24-hour period.

# Marks & Spencer also stocks 'Fresh chicken' and 'Oakham White chicken' - these are not higher welfare products as defined by the RSPCA as they are reared at stocking densities of up to 34kg/m2. However, this is in-line with the government's recommendations for stocking density and is slightly better than the industry standard of 38kg/m2 - often used by other supermarkets for their 'standard' range of chickens.

# The 'Oakham White' is typically slaughtered from 41 days onwards as the birds are ten per cent slower growing than the standard produced bird ('Fresh chicken').

Survey update - October 2004
"Oakham chicken is exclusive to Marks & Spencer and has been specially selected to be slower growing for improved animal welfare, as well as flavour and texture. We have retained our position on having low stocking density for our indoor produced birds - a maximum of 34kg/m2. Our suppliers have undertaken significant investment in both new poultry housing and upgrading of existing buildings over the last 12 months to ensure optimum housing standards."


http://chickens.rspca.org.uk/servlet...=1099596656273

HTH

Thanks Callum, I for one, will still be buying my chickens from M & S then, coz they taste divine and it seems some of them ARE free range then, well as free range as you can get nowadays I suppose, at least they have access to roam outside if they want and they're not stuck in cages even when they're inside, so there's nowt wrong with that imo!

Sorry, but I could never be a vegetarian, I like my meat too much, and you only pass this way once and I intend to enjoy it whilst it lasts!

Yes, but only the free-range ones get to go outside, so yes I'd buy their chickens but not the ones housed in the barn.

If you go by their stocking density of 30kg/m2....
well my chicken today was 2kg, therefore if he was a barn chicken there would be 15 in that square metre, which to me is too much if constantly inside.

It's free-range for this ex-veggie!

Have to agree,me too,xxxxxxxxxx

Hi

Have you tried any of your local butchers? One of ours does skinned chicken breasts - free range and without chemiclas - at the same price as the local Sainsburys.

Catch is - Sainsburys usually have a two for less offer so it works out cheaper.

i found a local farm shops doing free range organic chickens raised on their famr ( that you can visit) for £6.82 - so thats where i willbe getting my chickens from now on. A different farm shop sells free range eggs from their own hens at 20p each - and they were delicious as i had them for my brekkie.

have to say it has put me off all supermarkets as its them that are forcing the need for hugely cramped conditions as they are screwing the farmers into 3p per chicken type costs so the farmers are stuck between providing a decent amount of space OR ramming them in to make their money.

I will now only be buying my essentials fromthe supermarkets like biscuits etc and buy my meat and veg from the farmshop which is not more expensive in the grand scheme of things.

d xx

But becky are they 15 at chick size, or 15 at slaughter size, as it would be amazingly diffrent amount of chicks you could fit in to that one space to make up 30kg


I never thought bought the way they were produced to get the cheap chickens at tesco to be honset, although I did wonder how they could rear the birds for £2.50 each now I know why and will never buy a standard bird again.
My 8 year old said to me yesterday when I was defrosting a chick for the snake, "mom thats a standard chick", I pointed out that its not the life they have before slaughter as hatchlings, its the life they have after, as its just luck if your'e gonna be free range or standard, he said "well then mom its best off as snake food isn't it? if it's gonna be standard," to which i replied yep son it is.

It's great that more people are considering buying free range chickens after the recent programmes, but I have to say I do wonder what will happen to the poor farmers (for want of a better word) are going to do now people aren't buying their birds?

After all, isn't it the giant supermarket chains that have caused the situation in the first place (as with dairy farmers and milk prices) by wanting ever cheaper produce to sell?

I'm not saying don't buy free range, I just feel the programme could've made more of a point about the supermarkets probably playing a big part in these poor chicken suffering in the first place.

I definitely feel large supermarket chains have a huge part to play. However, as far as the "farmers" are concerned though, I hope it will encourage more to look towards producing free range birds. I am afraid I don't really see the people who produce battery or indoor birds as "farmers" as such though so I doubt that will happen

Oh I think they did, with the farmers showing they get 3p profit from each chicken.
Then there was that farmer who had two different systems, for the supermarkets he did the intensive farming.
I think we should all be aware how manipulative the big supermarkets are at price fixing, or rather price bullying their producers, whether it be milk, bread, chicken etc.

There was that Ch4 programme on Tesco's once, who had asked a farmer to sell them all his lettuces at X pence. Then when they were ready to be harvested, they said they weren't going to pay full price.
It was too late for him to find anyone else to buy them, as lettuces have a set harvest time, so he refused in principal as they had reneged on the deal. So they told him they didn't want them and he was facing losing everything because of their greed.

I can also remember seeing a bbc programme years ago about how Tesco's treated their african growers of mangetout.... and how they price bullied them too.

That's why I hate Tesco.