"Janet Baraclough" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> The message <ehrebeniuk-7A485C.21200014052008@news>
> from Chookie > contains these words:
>
>> In article >,
>> (Phred) wrote:
>
>> > Thirty something years ago you could buy "boiling hens" here in Oz
>> > pretty much as you describe them. However, I haven't seen the things
>> > in the local supermarkets for decades now.
> I haven't seen boiling hens for sale in the UK for about 30 years,>
> either. They were quite large birds, and incredibly cheap; the spent
> hens from the egg industry.
>
> Today the breeds of hen bred for very intensive egg production are very
> much lighter, less meaty birds (cheaper to feed) and I suspect that
> nowadays they all go straight to the food processing industry to be
> made into chicken nuggets, chicken soup, petfood etc.
>
> Janet
I buy them here, but they are not always big. They are often sold by the
half, too, which I think reflects that it may be mostly older people who
know to use them.
We can also buy young roosters labeled exactly that. Out of the supermarket
and in the butcher's I can buy anything if I ask ahead, but in the
supermarket I can buy from a quail to turkey parts any week at all. Only
geese seem seasonal starting August 15thish.