In This Economy?

Turns out humans aren’t the only ones dealing with a housing crisis in this economy. Farmers are becoming unable to pay the pricey mortgages on their chicken coops. On the heels of the bankruptcy of chicken giant Pilgrims Pride last year, 300 farmers’ contracts with Pilgrims were terminated, no longer guaranteeing them a certain price per pound for their farm-raised chicks. “For the farmers who have been cut loose, no contract means no chicks, which means no revenue — and no money to pay off the coop mortgages.” Which means they’re being forced into double- and triple-mortgaging their $200,000 chicken coops, resulting in major financial woes for the farmers, and I’m guessing thousands of sad little chickens on the streets sporting a hobo-style stick-and-hanky-filled-with-chicken-feed getup. Good thing dressing like a hobo is so in right now. Bindles!

But Pilgrims isn’t the only chicken company to rustle farmers’ feathers. Tyson and Perdue Farms have also cut contracts, and the chicken industry as a whole has suffered a hit during the current economic downturn, as demand is slowing. So how can you help? Well, I haven’t heard anything about an “Adopt A Homeless Chicken” program, but I’m thinking we can all do as the Chic-fil-a cows say and “EAT MOR CHIKIN,” at least for the time being.

Tags: bindles, hobo chicken, housing crisis, mortgages, pilgrims pride

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 10:31 AM and is filed under Bad News, WTF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.