In Lombardy, more than 2 chickens live freely in an alpine forest
The treatment that the vast majority of egg and chicken production farms offer to animals is close to barbarism, with the birds living piled on top of each other, and being subjected to techniques and conditions similar to torture. The justification is the extreme need for companies to meet the incessant demand for meat and eggs – but an Italian producer decided to raise his animals and carry out his production in a radically opposite way: his more than 2 thousand chickens not only live free range, but also in freedom of an alpine forest.
Massimo Rapella lives in the mountainous surroundings of the city of Sondrio, in the heart of the Valtellina, a valley in northeastern Italy, which borders Switzerland – and it is in a space of 2 hectares of forest that his chickens live.
Initially Massimo and his wife had only 4 birds that fed their house with eggs, but today the producer collects 1.300 eggs daily from the trees in the forest. The eggs are laid by the animals in natural nests, which the chickens themselves make with raw material from the forest.
The producer states that from the beginning the difference that freedom and natural food – made with leaves, nuts, worms and insects – made in the animals was visible from the beginning. Shinier feathers, more vigorous animals and much tastier eggs were the effects that make its production special today.
Selling directly to restaurants and local residents, Massimo does not seek to maximize his production, which varies according to the temperament of the chickens and the time of year – and this is the secret to the health of the animals and, consequently, of those who feed on the eggs they contain. your chickens produce.
By Vitor Paiva / Hypeness. Photos: dissemination/reproduction
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