People rave about our eggs. The yolks are so dark, the shells are so thick, the eggs are so tasty. We only have 14 chickens, and six of those no longer lay, but we think it would be heartless to kill the non-layers after they rendered good service. They live in a chicken house, and we allow them to roam outside except on really cold windy days.
In 2008 the voters of California approved an initiative that required that egg-laying hens in the state spend most of their day with enough space to allow them to lie down, stand up, turn around, and fully extend their limbs. The requirement was extended to chickens producing eggs sold in California.
Now Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, who evidently does not care much about chickens, is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the California law. He says it will drive up food costs. He says the California regulations would burden Missouri citizens, who evidently also don’t care much for chickens.
I’m always amazed when some of these state officials that bleat about states’ rights are so willing to use the federal court system to overturn other states’ rights.
(In November the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Missouri and five other states, saying that the states failed to show how the California law would affect them. I wonder what Trump’s proposed Supreme Court nominee thinks about chickens.)
Information for this post is taken from Lancaster Farming (Feb. 18, 2017), p. A23.
I am always amazed how they preach about states to have control and then they fight against the states.
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