"The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals."
Egg laying hens are among the most abused of all farmed animals. On factory farms, four or more hens are forced to live inside tiny wire enclosures called battery cages. In these confines, the hens are unable to stretch their wings or legs, fulfill social needs or engage in natural behaviors. Constantly rubbing against the wire of battery cages, hens suffer severe feather loss and are covered with bruises and abrasions. To prevent injuries caused by excessive pecking, a result of unnatural, overcrowded conditions, chickens' beaks are seared off with a hot blade. Damaged beaks never grow back.
In order to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle when production declines, the hens are denied food, water, and light for up to two weeks. This cruel process is known as forced molting. Poultry producers also use selective breeding to make chickens and turkeys grow larger more quickly. Raising more birds in less time increases producers' profit, but also severely compromises the health of chickens and intensifies their suffering. Hundreds of millions of broiler chickens die every year from organ failure, because the birds' hearts and lungs do not grow as rapidly as the rest of their bodies, and cannot deliver enough oxygen to the muscles. The resulting strain can cause heart failure. The birds'
legs also do not grow fast enough to support their abnormally heavy bodies, causing crippling joint disorders, skeletal deformities and lameness. Birds who are unable to walk cannot reach food and water stations, and may die from starvation or dehydration.
When birds reach slaughter weight (about 5 lbs for broiler chickens), they are gathered up and sent to slaughter. For most chickens, this is the first and only time they will see the sky or breathe fresh air. The journey from grow house to slaughterhouse can be long and arduous, subjecting these frightened and defenseless animals to more misery. Chickens are commonly shipped to slaughter in open crates stacked on large
When birds reach slaughter weight (about 5 lbs for broiler chickens), they are gathered up and sent to slaughter. For most chickens, this is the first and only time they will see the sky or breathe fresh air. The journey from grow house to slaughterhouse can be long and arduous, subjecting these frightened and defenseless animals to more misery. Chickens are commonly shipped to slaughter in open crates stacked on large
flatbed trucks. Though countless birds die en route from exposure to temperature and weather extremes, it is more economical for the industry to absorb high mortality rates than to shelter the birds during transport. At the slaughterhouse, workers pull the birds from the crates as quickly as possible, giving little thought to their welfare. A crane or forklift may also be used to lift the crates off the truck and dump the birds roughly onto a conveyor belt. As they are unloaded, some birds inevitably fall onto the ground, where they may be crushed by machinery or die slowly from injuries or starvation. While the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act requires that animals be rendered unconscious
prior to slaughter, birds are specifically excluded from it. Though they feel pain just as other animals, and comprise more than 95% of all farm animals killed every year in the U.S., their suffering is disregarded. Birds are commonly shackled by their feet on a moving rail that dips them head first into an electrified bath. The electricity paralyzes their muscles, but is not strong enough to numb the birds to pain or fear; it simply ensures that they hang limp as they continue down the line to another machine that cuts their throats. After the birds emerge from the water, their throats are slashed, usually with mechanized blades, and they bleed to death. Next, they are submerged in a scalding tank containing boiling water to facilitate feather removal. The mechanized blades meant to kill the birds before they reach the scalding tank invariably miss some of their intended victims. These birds are often dunked into the boiling water fully conscious. Sadly, this is an occurrence so common that the industry has developed a name for such birds: "redskins."
"Free-Range" VS. Battery Cage
- Both battery and free-range chickens get debeaked with a hot bloody blade at one day old with no anesthetic.
- Both battery and free-range chickens are force molted (intentionally starved to shock the body into another laying cycle).
- Both battery and free-range chickens are violently packed into a semi and trucked hundreds of miles to an agonizing slaughter.
- Both battery and free-range chickens are denied the opportunity to live a natural life.
- Both battery and free-range male chicks are brutally killed simply because they can't lay eggs and are of no use to the industry.
*The bottom line is, that There is simply NO way to humanely produce eggs for human consumption.*
For additional information you may visit the FreeRangeMyth website.
For additional information you may visit the FreeRangeMyth website.