Intensive Farming of Chickens Should Be Banned
Ranked #1,364 in Pets & Animals, #36,617 overall | Donates to TLC Animal Shelter
Intensive Farming - Bad for You, Bad for Chickens
When I learned a few years ago just how horrific the living conditions of battery and intensively reared hens was I made the decision to only buy free-range hens and eggs.
If we are going to eat meat, we have a duty to ensure that those animals are reared in humane conditions and that they are given spacious, natural places to live.
This is why I believe the intensive farming of chickens should be banned.
Warning: Many of the images used in this lens will be disturbing. I believe they are necessary though to demonstrate the cruel conditions that intensively reared hens are living in.
Awards
My thanks to you
Summer Sunshine Award 2010.
Purple Star ~ November 2010
Lens of the Day ~ 18 November 2010
Chickens enjoying the summer sunshine.
The Unnatural Life of a Broiler chicken
39 short days
The hen's beak is chopped off to keep it from pecking other hens in its overcrowded living conditions. You will find that I do not talk about cockerels here. This is because those are killed at birth. Cockerels and deformed chicks are destroyed, often time by putting them through a macerator while they are still alive and fully conscious.
- The short, unnatural life of a broiler chicken | Chicken Out
- 39 day blog following the life of a factory farmed chicken The blog followed the pitiful development of a day old chick to an oversized and painfully lame bird in a barren, crowded shed.
Why Should We Care
It's Just a chicken, right?
Factory farming of animals for food consumption is one of the biggest causes of animal cruelty on this planet today.
60 billion animals are farmed for food worldwide every year. The majority in conditions that are overcrowded and inhumane and serious impact on their health and well-being.
What Do You Think
I believe that intensive factory farming practices to rear chickens should be banned, not just in the UK, but in all countries. The practice is cruel and inhumane.
Hens are crowded together,
each having a space smaller than a sheet of notebook paper to stand upon
Intensively reared chickens live for fewer than 40 days in horrendous conditions. They are so crowded they cannot move and their beaks are removed to keep them from pecking other hens. They have no access to sunlight or fresh air.
The spend their days standing in their own faecal waste, causing them to develop burns from the ammonia. Next time you see a chicken in the grocery store, have a look at the darkened skin around the legs and on the belly. That darkened skin is from ammonia burning into their flesh.
Because of these conditions, intensively reared chickens are more likely to carry diseases such as salmonella.
On the other hand....
Intensive factory farming does provide readily accessible, inexpensive meat for more people around the globe.
But is it worth the price?
Should the Intensive Farming of Chickens Should Be Banned
Yes, it should be banned
Aimee says:
yes this is awful it just makes me cry how cruel humans are sometimes i am ashamed to be human!
Astonishkickstart says:
I agree 100%. I actually own 15 chickens & 15 ducks, they spend all day outside. Why do people support with there wallets something they would never do themselves?
TransplantedSoul says:
Yes. There is no need to do this. If we all ate a bit less meat, (or went vegetarian), the world would be much more sustainable.
jason says:
chickens have feelings!!!!!
Mil says:
Poor Babies. I have chickens at home and if you just watch them for ten minutes you can see thier social structure, their personality and so much more. They are complex creatures that have every right to live a happy life and we're treating them like this! So much for us being the "civilised, emphathetic" creatures. Shame on people!!!
Jim says:
only one word... HORRID!
whoisbid says:
Free chickens taste much better anyway. I don't know how those big corporations will be able to change their ways and I don't think it will stop but I don't like the way they are being treated
LaraineRose says:
I won't buy chicken from a big food chain any more. We have a local butcher shop where we can get chilcken like grandma used to bake. We tried raising our own chickens - they became pets and we couldn't kill them so we used their eggs until they died. One chicken lived almost 12 years. Her name, why Henny Penny, of course.
Murphypig says:
I'm glad you raise this issue and show people the true conditions these chickens are kept in. Most people just don't think about it because they don't care, but chickens are living creatures which feel pain and have needs! I just rescued 4 chickens and can't think of a live without them anymore.
bird brain says:
yes
ChrisDay says:
Yes, we should not be exploiting animals in this way and subjecting them to such horrors, all in the name of cheap food.
Stacey says:
It's disgusting!
Dustbunnyodoom says:
Speaking as a vegetarian transitioning to vegan, I agree wholeheartedly that the factory farming of of chickens(and other animals) should be stopped. People hate to hear it for whatever reason, but meat is not a necessity for a healthy diet.
Ingrid Pastorius says:
Absolutely, 1000% it should be banned, it's been going on far too long, and as a society we seem to get sicker and sicker, no doubt this is part of the problem. Regardless of how accessible it makes to feed more people, it is downright wrong at its core, there has to be another way.
Niccie says:
I think it's awful what the industry is doing to animals. Especially chicken. They live under horrible conditions, they are sick and suffering every day. Are these products that we want to eat every day? Eggs and meat from sick animals?
Joe McGuire says:
The practices of corporate farming today are atrocious. There are much healthier ways that a chicken can be raised where it can be with it's own kind, feel the sun on it's feathers and be able to stretch it's wings and legs and eat it's choice of food. The way chickens were supposed to be raised. We are seeing a push towards sustainable agriculture which will end these abominable practices.
I will note that I am a meat eater and believe in hunting and even fur trapping which I partake in. I do believe animals have a right to live as free a life as possible but not that they are above exploitation by man.
Titia says:
I do believe that any animal should be given the opportunity to live a respectful life. I'm not against eating meat, I eat my own sheep, but at least I know they've had a wonderful life and are not stuffed with all kinds of hormones and stuff. I don't think intensive farming will ever be banned because too much money is involved and people still demand a low price on the product, but the way these animals are kept, should have to improve tremendously. It's not only the chickens, it's all the other farm animals too, pigs, cows. In my country there are cows who never see daylight in their life, who don't know what green grass tastes like.
says:
Banned!
jjj1 says:
I have bought free range eggs since the age of 18 and am now a vegetarian. I have favourited your lens as I believe the cruelty behind this type of farming needs exposing.
dutcher53 says:
I don't think you can stop something thats making money. Tyson Foods own most of the chickens from egg up.
No, it should not be banned
Can't think of one says:
Yes it is absolutely horrible that the chickens are being treated this way, BUT I disagree that it should be banned. Because if the Government loves their chicken so much then they should make bigger farms for the chickens and keep the same amount of chickens as they do now and just give them extra space.
thegreenninja says:
I think these farms should be more strictly regulated. This entire issue is another reason that we are planning to have our own chickens. Thanks for bringing attention to this issue.
edwards101 says:
More NO than YES but with this comment: Companies like Tyson foods and others should migrate to areas where land is cheap. That cuts down the costs and they could build more buildings where animals have lots of space!
NanLT says:
Unfortunately, Tyson foods is unknown outside of the US and the world does not end at its borders.
Beak trimming continues in the UK and other countries.
Ban on beak trimming under threat
Joyce says:
As a long time Tyson breeder hen farm owner and an animal lover (can't stand to hurt anything) I don't even recognize what these 'experts' report as fact. Our hens' bills are not clipped, we protect them from diseases carried by wild birds and yard chickens, they move freely in a protected environment that keeps them from being killed by wild animals (chickens cannot live unprotected), they have clean water and healthful food (Tysons will shut down a farm not operated correctly). Yes, they do bunch up at times, a natural tendency but they DO NOT stand around in fecal material because sawdust or other material and slats insure this does not happen. I would like to see how this world and its huge cities full of nature experts could feed themselves without large farms of this sort. Frankly, we live in a rural environment because we enjoy it. We could live off what our farm produces and market just to neighbors just fine........but what would people in concrete cities live on??? It truly is nice to know our efforts are appreciated as we work seven days a week to produce healthy food for people all over the world.....That being said, as in any business there are abusers but the abusers should be punished, not a blanket indictment from people who want to force their opinions and lifestyle on those who disagree with them.
Joseph Vick says:
The word farming here is a misnomer. Farming it the practice of cultivation. What you have here is corperate greed run amuck. This is an unnatural, inhuman, barbarack disregaurd for the animals as well as the creator who made them. It is quiet simply prevertion.. However to ban this pratices is to also assume you are somehow in control of the universe. Also assumes that just becaause something dosen't agree with your philosophy, that you or the majority of you's can dictate or legislate morality. It didn't work in prohibition, and the outlawing of a practice only drives it into the hand of the people who profit from the black market. the under the table shadie folks who work outside the law, have always profitted from the illegale marketing of banned items, drugs, guns, slavery,. The thing is to make this practice less proffitable by the way you spend your money. education of the populist,
webdiva888 says:
Wow that's so sad...didn't know. Poor things.
40kTerrain says:
It would be nice if we could ban it, but so many things are interrelated, here. The market drives this. I've had free range chickens, and they are bigger and better all the way around. They also cost *much* more. If enough people cared, this issue would resolve itself. (And then we'd have issues about why people don't protect their chickens better.) Also, I really don't want the Government any further involved in my life than it already is -- no more laws, please.
Rather, I think we should remove residential ordnances banning chickens and rabbits for food use in suburban areas. I think if people were closer to their food, they may understand better and most will treat their stock better than you show on your wonderful study, here.
tagsforkids says:
Another touchy subject, as no one wants to see animals suffer, but most don't want to give up the food. While I would like to see better conditions and practices, bottom line is supply and demand.
pyle_mountain says:
No, I don't believe it should be banned. But I don't like to see any sort of animal live in bad conditions either. Free range chickens are great, we own some chickens and enjoy eating eggs they lay. However, there's no way the "world chicken demand" could possibly be met with only free range chickens. That means higher food prices and possibly more hungry people.
juan says:
The reason this exists is because we don't want to think about this and other issues. Forget the chicken for a moment and you will realize that to make a chicken grow that fast it has to be injected with estrogen that is not broken down by cooking. Excess estrogen is linked to breast, colon and prostrate cancers. This is not food, it's the new tobacco.
xuxin12454 says:
oh no
nnaij says:
I do not really support intensive farming of chickens well neither do I think it should be banned. Unless you are going to tell me you are going to be a vegetarian because you are going to slaugther the chicken anyway, so banning intensive farmings of chicken is pointless in my pointss of views.
Anyway, congrats on LOTD!
stevecrenshaw says:
If enough people are willing to pay for animals not raised this way, this will end. It is not something that needs to be banned because we have enough rules. If people really care they will stop buying them.
capriliz says:
NO. It is horrible, but a market exists. Government controls too many parts of our lives. Americans can stop it by making the choice not to purchase from companies that support the farms. But - NO - the government should not ban the farms.
What is next? Pork?
Norlana says:
The reason this occurs is because you want your food to be cheap. Bottom line. If you were willing to pay for good food that was humainly raised, I would sell it. I should no because I own a grocery store. It is always a race to the bottom. Cheap, cheap is what most people want. That said, I believe articles like this are good because you have to made to THINK. So for right now, my answer is no banning because there are no alternatives. If people speak up, our industry would be forced to change.
NanLT says:
Spook - your argument regarding sustainability is not valid. Studies have shown the opposite to be true in agricultural farming.
Check out http://www.i-sis.org.uk/OrganicAgriculture.php
Spook says:
It always boils down to the same thing, eat or starve, yet people forget this as practices such as this have made life so soft for everyone. I've been a farmer for most of my life and have never yet come across a cruel commercial farmer. The exact opposite is the case and it's why many of them farm.
The thing to remember is, organic and free range farming is unsustainable in today's world. Try it in Africa and see how fast cutworm depletes your crop.
burgessvillian says:
We already live in a world with too many rules and regulations by people who know nothing about what they are making laws about.
One way to stop this is to not buy these chickens.
Another is by educating the public such as this wonderful lens.
Intensive farming of chickens should be banned
Links to websites agreeing with this stand
Do you agree that intensive farming of chickens should be banned? Have a website that agrees with that stance?
Then post the link to it here.
1
Home | Chicken Out
Through the Chicken Out! campaign, Hugh Fearnley-W more...3 points
2
http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/food/817563-writer-jonathan-safran-foer-dishes-out-some-truth-in-new-novel
US meat industry: Becoming a father for the first more...2 points
3
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF)2 points
4
Cruelty To Chickens
When you eat at a restaurant, you probably don't t more...0 points
The Way Chickens Should Live
The Way Most are Living Today
Video Footage of the Conditions Chickens are Living In
The Debate on Intensive Farming of Chickens Continues
- Test-driving the future of farming
- By Alex Sharp VIII Farming isn't just a job. For most farmers, it's a way of life, a family enterprise, a connection with the land and a means of making a living. The owners and managers of five local farms spent last year analyzing those motivating ...
- Chicken gets dearer
- SRIKAKULAM: Thanks to the soaring mercury, chicken prices in the districts have gone up by Rs 40 to Rs 60 per kilo. A kilo chicken meat costs Rs 202 in Srikakulam. "Chickens in the poultry farms are not able to survive the intensive heat waves," said a ...
- Share trading needs 75% farmer majority to get the nod - Fonterra
- "I wouldn't say there's a silent majority in support, but there is a silent majority of farmers who are waiting and watching carefully," said Brown ahead of a fortnight of intensive face to face meetings with farmers around the country.
I Am Donating 100%
to improve the lives of animals
T.L.C. has served Homer Glen and Will County Illinois as a private, non-profit, humane society, dedicated to the prevention of abuse, neglect, and cruelty to animals. The shelter provides refuge for an average of three to four thousand animals yearly.
Thank You for Reading
I thank you and so do these ladies
-
-
Aimee
May 28, 2012 @ 1:40 am | delete
- so becoming veggie now save the hens they have rights too!
-
-
-
TransplantedSoul
Mar 7, 2012 @ 5:15 pm | delete
- Very educational. Glad I'm a vegetarian!
-
-
-
whoisbid
Sep 3, 2011 @ 2:18 am | delete
- There are better ways of farming for sure. I am wondering who is paying attention? I doubt that billion dollar corporations will be bothered but thanks for the efforts
-
-
-
SaintFrantic
Oct 22, 2011 @ 7:59 am | delete
- We should be bothered.If even 10% of the people care things will change.
-
-
-
LaraineRose
Aug 24, 2011 @ 5:43 am | delete
- If an animal is capable of perceiving pain or feeling fear, then it has a right not to have those things inflicted upon it. There is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A chicken is a pig is a dog is a boy. They’re all living, feeling creatures.
-
- Load More
Chicken Out
on Twitter
About the Author
I believe we have a duty of care towards the animals that we rear for food. It starts with making sure to only buy meat which comes from free-range animals.
Cooking with NanLT
by NanLT
After viewing Chicken Run, a show hosted by British writer, broadcaster and campaigner Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall which looked at the conditions in which... more »
- 221 featured lenses
- Winner of 24 trophies!
- Top lens » Ben 10: Colouring Pages
- This lens »
Won purple star
- This lens » Selected as Lens of the Day
Explore related pages
- Please Help to Ban Australian Livestock Export Please Help to Ban Australian Livestock Export
- Backyard Chickens Backyard Chickens
- Rescue Chickens-Free Range Eggs Rescue Chickens-Free Range Eggs
- How To Build Secure Fencing For Organic Chickens How To Build Secure Fencing For Organic Chickens
- Cruelty To Chickens Cruelty To Chickens
- From Ugly Old Shed to Trendy Chicken Coop From Ugly Old Shed to Trendy Chicken Coop
Cooking with NanLT
A Difficult Look at the Meat Industry in the USA
Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect and Inhumane Treatment Inside Th U.S. Meat Industry
Amazon Price: $13.81 (as of 05/31/2012)
The Impact of Your Food Choices
The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter
Amazon Price: $1.99 (as of 05/31/2012)
