Killers sought in deaths of 300,000 chickens in South Carolina

[mick silver]

By Harriet McLeod



CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Revenge may be the motive for the killings in South Carolina of more than 300,000 commercial chickens worth about $1.7 million over the past two weeks, authorities said on Monday.
Birds have been found dead of unnatural causes in 16 chicken houses at six farms that grow chickens for Pilgrims Pride Corp, the largest poultry producer in the United States, which laid off some 60 people right before the killings began, Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett said.
The company has a processing plant in Sumter, South Carolina.
About 325,000 chickens have been found dead at the farms since mid-February, Garrett said. One farmer, W.L. Coker, lost the birds in eight chicken houses, or about 160,000 birds, he said.
Authorities are searching for killers with a deep working knowledge of raising chickens, Garrett said, adding that he believed the deaths of the chickens are related to the layoffs.
Vandals bypassed alarms systems and raised or lowered temperature in the chicken houses, killing them, Garrett said.
"Depending on the age of the birds, they knew whether to jack the heat up or jack the heat off," Garrett said.
Young birds need more heat, and older ones need less, he said.
"They had all that knowledge of the farms and how many weeks growth the chickens were," Garrett said.
Garrett said his office has contacted U.S. Department of Agriculture authorities and state police.
Pilgrim's Pride said in a statement that it was fully cooperating with authorities.
"These unfortunate, yet apparently deliberate acts show a blatant disregard for the welfare of the chickens and the livelihood of the family farmers involved," the statement said.
The acts were also condemned by state officials overseeing South Carolina's agriculture industry.
"Farming presents its own unique challenges without something like this happening," South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said in a statement.
(Editing by Karen Brooks and Andrew Hay)


South Carolina
Sumter, South Carolina

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[singular_me]

Pilgrims Pride Corp GMOed chickens

[jimswift]

yet apparently deliberate acts show a blatant disregard for the welfare of the chickens and the livelihood of the family farmers involved

They are full of it here. Willing to bet any cases of shitty chicken comes about and their tune changes.

[Cebu_4_2]

$5.66 a bird sounds a bit inflated. The farmers get nothing even close to that.

[Tumbleweed]

There's a pretty good video at this link of how the chicken houses look and are run. It also covers what the farmers are up against dealing with the corporations they contract with. The farmer in this video is a whistle blower on these chicken houses and the company he produces for went after him because of it.

I'm not able to imbed it.

http://interactive.fusion.net/cock-fight/

[Cebu_4_2]

Here is #1


http://youtu.be/5b9yhm3FfSM?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEzsi8TVh1myttJV1vD2ezZD x
http://youtu.be/5b9yhm3FfSM?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEzsi8TVh1myttJV1vD2ezZD x

And the rest here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEzsi8TVh1myttJV1vD2ezZDx (http://youtu.be/5b9yhm3FfSM?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEzsi8TVh1myttJV1vD2ezZD x)

[osoab]

$5.66 a bird sounds a bit inflated. The farmers get nothing even close to that.

insurance

[Cebu_4_2]

insurance

No the farmers get like 12-25¢ a bird after feed and expense.. Looked this up a while back. 300,000 x 25¢is 75k

[Cebu_4_2]

Part 2: how much the farmers really make....


http://youtu.be/MfV2HFasWb4?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEzsi8TVh1myttJV1vD2ezZD x
http://youtu.be/MfV2HFasWb4?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEzsi8TVh1myttJV1vD2ezZD x

[Dogman]

Seeing that Bo pilgrims pride was started abt 30 miles north of me and there are a Huge number of chicken farms in this area.

300,000 birds Boils ( ;D ) down to about 15 chicken houses if they were the bigger ones that hold close to 20,000 birds each. Here most if not all commercial chicken ranchers use the larger houses stuffed full of walking and clucking feather balls.

Used to be here and it may still hold , is the person the chicken house did not own the chickens they just oversaw the feeding and care of the birds, everything else was provided by the processor. Iirc.

Still a bunch of birds.

[Ares]

Authorities are searching for killers with a deep working knowledge of raising chickens

LOL deep working knowledge of raising chickens? Easy they eat ANYTHING. Taint the food, and you'll kill them.

Gee look at the deep working knowledge of raising chickens in action... :rolleyes:

[BrewTech]

LOL deep working knowledge of raising chickens? Easy they eat ANYTHING. Taint the food, and you'll kill them.

Gee look at the deep working knowledge of raising chickens in action... :rolleyes:
Apparently jacking off the heat is fatal to chickens as well.

[osoab]

No the farmers get like 12-25¢ a bird after feed and expense.. Looked this up a while back. 300,000 x 25¢is 75k

Do the farmers actually own the birds?

[Dogman]

Do the farmers actually own the birds?

Here I think not! Birds and feed are provided by the processor!

Or it used to be that way, may me still? The farmers are contract growers, tending to the needs as the birds grow.

[palani]

Packer ownership of livestock isn't really good.

[Spectrism]

$5.66 a bird sounds a bit inflated. The farmers get nothing even close to that.


No the farmers get like 12-25¢ a bird after feed and expense.. Looked this up a while back. 300,000 x 25¢is 75k

Not even close. Those birds cost plenty to get to laying age. You can look at the cost: feed, care, time, and origination. You can also look at the lost opportunity cost. If they lost layers, they would have $5 per over the next 2 months. Meat birds might be in the same range.

I suspect these were meat birds being a bit more sensitive to temperatures. These things are bred to grow fast and they are weak.

[Horn]

Right, those processors plant's machines are closely tied to blue chip stock speculation and banking.

System desk jobs culprit in the great "food supplied make work enterprise", another case of short lifespan in the mechanized world.

[singular_me]

after watching the documentary, I think it was a good thing for the birds.


KFC meals contain mystery organs from tormented chickens
‘Just when you think that fast food couldn’t possibly be any more disgusting, a California teenager finds what he believes is a chicken’s brain alongside his chicken breast, thighs and corn. Like many students, Manuel Cobarubies was looking for a quick meal when he decided to roll by KFC on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Stockton.

“(It looked) like a brain to me. I mean at that point, red flags were kind of raised,” Cobarubies told reporters.

After digging into his $4 meal, Cobarubies was stunned upon discovering what looked like some sort of animal body part, which according to KFC, was simply a kidney or a gizzard, and “safe to eat,” reported FOX40.’
http://www.naturalnews.com/048891_KFC_chickens_mystery_organs.html

[mick silver]

same here the processor suppy the birds and one more thing they also have to pay the processor for the loan to build the barns for the birds it takes years to do that ..........
Here I think not! Birds and feed are provided by the processor!

Or it used to be that way, may me still? The farmers are contract growers, tending to the needs as the birds grow.

[Tumbleweed]

Packer ownership of livestock isn't really good.

The link to the story about the chicken grower I posted was sent to me by a cattlemans group I pay dues to. They have been fighting the large corporations for years that are trying to get the same kind of control over the cattle industry that they already have over hogs and chickens.

There are just a few large corporations feeding and slaughtering the majority of cattle and they use their ownership or control of the livestock to manipulate the prices paid to farmers and ranchers lower.

The contract chicken and hog growers don't have the freedom or money to fight the corporations that have gained control of them. The independent cattle men still do have and the large corporations don't like it. There is a nonstop running battle between these corporations and independent cattle men and there has been for many years.