La vida secreta de las gallinas

Jose Ignacio Redondo, Small eggs

Qué suerte tienen estas ponedoras.

The layers most pampered of Spain. Are on a farm in Ávila. Chickens like Kenny G. In his defense, it should be said that laying hens also love the arias of Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballé, and Renata Scotto.

And there are even studies in kibbutz israelis who have determined that their productivity increases if you listen to the powerful music of Richard Wagner. But what of the saxophone by Kenny G. is special. I don't know what kind you have, but I love it.

When you put it on, they remain a half-hour silent. Then they take out a size of eggs that you die, reason, José Ignacio Redondo, surrounded by 40,000 hens on his farm in El Barraco, in Avila. Round holds in his right hand the ultimate test: an egg of nearly 200 grams of weight.

This is The Barraco, gentlemen, the cradle of cyclists as Angel Arroyo, Carlos Sastre, and the disappeared “Chava” Jimenez, who made her legs up in the repechos of The Paramera. We are here because the poultry farm of the Round is the only part of Spain that, to this day, complies with the new European regulations for these facilities.

The next year, all the farm hens should have another air and be like this. But I don't think that gives you time. The investments are very strong, and the banks are not giving credit in these times.

Today, there are about 43 million hens in Spain; with changes in the farms, it will not reach 22 million.

What consequences? Because that will raise the price of eggs, forecast Round.

The new farms are aimed chicks, locked in cages and subjected to a relentless pace productive, don't waste your instinct and to have decent living conditions: you may get to a stick, not file the nail Polish, put the eggs in the dark in a roost, scratching and cleaned up the ass and sprinkled the body with, I think, what biologists call a bathroom ethologically.

According to the standard of the European Union, which will force a complete renovation of the poultry farms in Spain before 2012, every bird must have at least 750 square centimeters in the cage.

To the best tables

Farm hens, those tireless egg layers, lead an unknown, almost secret life, we might say.

José Ignacio Redondo boasts of its 40,000. The investment in this farm enriched, its official name, has cost the brothers Round 1.5 million euros, but they are not satisfied.

Each day, departing from The Barraco tens of thousands of eggs with destination to the best tables in the country.

In the restaurant of the Ritz, after two of their tasters to give the placet to the taste and the consistency of the yolk, prepared meals with their products.

También en Zalacaín y en el Café Gijón. Los dueños de El Mesón de la Tortilla les gastan 600 docenas cada semana. En Casa Lucio, los Redondos son la estrella de sus huevos estrellados. Y el Rey, cada vez que va al restaurante Landó, sale con su docena de huevos bajo el brazo, presume José Ignacio Redondo.

His brother Cesar guides us through the ship: 70 meters long by 30 wide, in which, to five heights, are chickens. Everything is controlled.

In a corner, under a stairwell and covered by the dust of, I think, is the music player.

¿La música clásica les encanta a las gallinas?

It sounds like the whole mecha “Bel raggio lusinghier” from Rossini, an aria, a very beautiful, full of scales and melismas, which the chickens continue with charm, stopping at times, their relentless cloqueo.

Opera, more than anything else, helps them get used to the human voice, so they are more relaxed and don't get agitated when we work inside, César confides.

There are 20 animals in each cage. The birds have five yellow perches in each cage to climb on and stretch their legs. The chickens, to be honest, are not very comfortable by human standards, but at least, we are told, they no longer live in the cramped conditions of conventional farms.

Su ritmo de vida está pautado al segundo. Con cuatro meses, las gallinas llegan a la granja, procedentes de Reus. Son gallinas de raza Hy-Line, marrones y americanas, especializadas en poner huevos colorados.

Cada una cuesta 4,5 euros, un pico (que, por cierto, tienen cortado). Al llegar, pesan 1,6 kilos. Como el viaje las suele estresar, las ponedoras pasan su primer mes descansando, con la luz encendida, relajándose y tomando un pienso especial para pollitas hecho con soja, maíz y cebada con un suplemento vitamínico más aceite de girasol.

A tallercito with feathers

All hens arrive vaccinated against salmonella, plague, coryza, bronchitis, and Marek's disease. These are not times to take risks, especially when Germany was forced to close 4,700 farms in early January after detecting the use of feed contaminated with dioxins, carcinogenic compounds that would have ended up in the poultry meat.

Mirándolo bien, una gallina viene a ser como un tallercito con plumas, encargado de proporcionar su óvulo diario y, como en cualquier otro proceso productivo, todo está medido y bien medido.

Each hen consumes 110 grams of feed per day, and a quarter of a liter of water coming from the springs of the sierra de Ávila. “I believe that water is the only secret to these eggs,” says José Ignacio Redondo.

Each productive day, the hens live in a cycle of 16 hours light and 8 hours of sleep.

It is at this time when the birds are preparing for the egg to be deposited later in the roost, a sort of mini-tester of department stores with cards, red.

The music that achieves its production is increased by 2%.

La alta temperatura corporal de las gallinas (42º) hace que las granjas sean verdaderos volcanes. Aquí, junto al Alberche y en las faldas de la sierra de Gredos, unos paneles en el techo ayudan a refrigerar y ventilar la nave. Intentamos bajar siempre de los 24º. Eso provoca que cada gallina coma 8 gramos más de pienso cada día.

It's more expensive, but you can tell by the quality of the eggs," says César Redondo. The hens eat 10 tons of feed every day. On other farms, they are hotter, drink more water, and lay lower-quality eggs. This is noticeable, they tell us, in the thickness of the egg white, which is measured in Haugh units.

Cada día, 37.000 huevos salen de esta nave. Unas cintas los recogen y los conducen a la clasificadora. Los XXL pesan 80 gramos o más. Los XL andan por los 73 y los L pesan entre 63 y 73 gramos. «La media son unos 70 gramos, talla L», apunta el tercer hermano, Antonio Redondo.

The dozen of the XL is sold in supermarkets to 1.70 euros.

Fuera, vemos encinas bicentenarias, de troncos y copas hermosas, que forman parte del monte comunal; un pastor sabio ha colocado un sofá desvencijado bajo la fenomenal hojarasca de una de estas encinas memoriosas.

“Here we will make the farm for the free-range hens,” says Caesar.

Es una finquita plantada de viña donde picotearán las gallinas de una nueva explotación de alto nivel. Bruselas exige que cada una disponga de, al menos, 4 metros cuadrados de terreno y que haya tres tipos de arbusto en la finca. ¿Por qué? Para que tengan sombra en verano. Aquí hay enebros, encinas y viñas». Un futuro idílico, comparado con el apelotonado presente.

Clear that, for the range as well as for those living in enriched cages, there is always an end. At the end of fifteen months of laying eggs almost daily (the own chickens regulate their fertile ovaries and rest three or four days a month), are taken out of the cage and taken to the slaughterhouse. Does your destination? Cubes.

No valen para otra cosa; pese a su excelente alimentación, sus pechugas son tan duras (en comparación con los tiernos pollos sacrificados con dos meses) que incomodarían nuestros paladares, como ya lo hacen los pollos verdaderos de recias y sabrosas carnes.

«Con dos años, una gallina no sirve más que para hacer sopa», cabecea José Ignacio Redondo. ¿Duro? No. Más bien al contrario. El día que se las llevan, yo las despido dándoles las gracias porque se han portado de maravilla. La gallina —suspira— es el animal más agradecido que hay: te gastas una peseta y te da dos; te gastas dos y te da cuatro».

Source: Julian Mendez

You may be interested in these other sections

Embryodiagnosis: Analysis of Unhatched Eggs

Castilian Black Chicks: Initial Care

Stages of the chick inside the egg during incubation

Do you want to share or comment on your social networks?

Scan to visit TRI-TRO
Escanea para visitar. TRI-TRO