Chicken Dignity

The bottom line:

1. Pasture raised/backyard raised Chickens are raised with care and respect.

2. They are able to spread their wings, dust bath, run and play, and forage in the dirt for bugs, worms and grass.

3. They get fresh water and feed that is always available, and treats.

4. They get health checks and treatment when needed.

 5. Chickens raised for meat in the pasture/backyard as compared to chicken factory farms contain 91% more Omega 3 fatty acids, have 52% less saturated fats, and have 407% more Vitamin E.

6. The eggs from layer hens raised in the pasture/backyard as compared to factory farms have 286% more Omega 3 fatty acids, have 13% less saturated fats, contain 73% more Vitamin A and have 200% more Vitamin E

Chickens raised for their meat are called boilers by the chicken industry, spend their entire lives in filthy sheds with tens of thousands of other birds, where intense crowding and confinement lead to outbreaks of disease. They’re bred and drugged to grow so large so quickly that their legs and organs can’t keep up, making heart attacks, organ failure, and crippling leg deformities common. Many become crippled under their own weight and eventually die because they can’t reach the water nozzles. When they are only 6 or 7 weeks old, they’re crammed into cages and trucked to slaughter.  Chickens molt once a year naturally.  This means the chicken replaces its old feathers for new ones. It is a stressful and painful process.  Humane chicken keepers make sure their chickens are comfortable during this time.   Molting of commercial egg laying hens is often done through a forced process known as induced molting. It involves a very cruel and inhumane technique by which the birds are starved for anywhere from five to as long as fourteen days. The starvation process triggers the physiological shock, causing the hens to molt---whatever feathers they have left.     

Chickens exploited and tortured for their eggs, called laying hens by the industry, are crammed together inside wire cages where they don’t even have enough room to spread their wings. Because the hens are crammed so closely together, these normally clean animals are forced to urinate and defecate on one another. The birds have part of their sensitive beaks cut off so that they won’t peck each other out of frustration created by the unnatural confinement. After their bodies are exhausted and their egg production drops, they are shipped to slaughter, generally to be turned into chicken soup or cat or dog food because their flesh is too bruised and battered to be used for much else.

Chickens are not protected by the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which seeks to prevent inhumane slaughter by requiring some farmed animals to be rendered insensible to pain before they are slaughtered. During slaughter, chickens are shackled upside down on a moving rack and dragged through an electrified water bath that should stun them, but might only lead to paralysis. Because birds, including chickens, are not legally required to be slaughtered humanely, many are paralyzed but fully conscious and able to sense pain as their throats are slit.  Then they are put into scalding hot water for feather removal.  Many who miss the throat slit, are put in their live.