I thoroughly enjoyed last Wednesday morning's interview regarding "Chickens!" My Grandma Esther raised chickens and I have happy childhood memories of helping her pick eggs and wash and pack them for sale. Some day I may purchase her old farm place near Dassel, MN and raise chickens myself! And NOT because I love animals or farm life so much (been there and done that). I grew up on a Dairy farm--and left ON PURPOSE. But the topic of farm-raised chickens interests me especially because of my concern regarding the safety of our nation's food supply. A few years ago a friend of mine, who works in the food industry, told me that on the large corporate poultry farms--when it's time to butcher birds for their meat--the workers reach into the 1' square cages (stacked several atop each other) to pull out the birds. Because the chickens have been "cooped up" for so long, there is little muscle or strong connective tissue left. So the wings or legs of the birds sometimes come off in the worker's hands while the body of the bird remains behind in the cage! Since hearing that tale I have really worried about eating commercially raised poultry! How can the meat of anything cooped up like that be remotely healthy for us? My fears were increased substantially by my many visits to the University of Minnesota's (Mpls. campus) Weisman Museum of Art where a VERY large oil painting by former Minnesota resident Doug Argue is often displayed. The subject is a one point perspective view looking down an aisle of a chicken barn. The cages are stacked, full of birds, one atop the other as far as the eye can see. Imagine, if you will, the top hens pooping on the birds beneath them, who in turn poop on the birds below them, and so on. How safe can the meat of the bottom birds be after absorbing/eating some of the excrement that likely finds its way into their digestive tracts? What is the impact on a laying hen's eggs? (to see the painting I'm talking about, check out the artist's website at dougarguestudios.com and look for it in his collection of work created in 1994). Glenna Olson, Grand Rapids