The Exploitation of Farmed Chickens
Imagine waking up surrounded by thousands of other chickens, desperately calling out for a mother who you will never get to meet. Suddenly you are tossed into a garbage bag to be ground up alive, or thrown into a crate to endure a life of suffering until your throat is split open and you are boiled alive. This Is the sick and cruel life of the majority of chickens in a variety of high-income countries, all due to factory farming.
Factory farming is a system of production where animals are treated as raw materials in order to produce meat, fish, eggs, and dairy sold in markets of higher-income countries (FFAC). When the world keeps striving to produce animal products, agricultural industries work even harder to bring more animals into the process, forcing animals upon endless manipulation and having shortened life spans just for human desire (Media). In reality, farmed animals are the most abused and exploited animals in the world due to factory farming. Narrowing it down, a majority of the chickens in the United States, an estimated 99%, are currently being confined on factory farms (FFAC). The process ultimately tortures and kills them just for the sake of humans’ wants for food.
Seeing that chickens make up 88% of farmed land animals, they could arguably be the most exploited animal species ever (Media). For ages, factory-farmed chickens have been split into two categories: broiler chickens and laying hens. In the wild chickens can live up to ten years, but since broiler chickens are only raised for meat, they are only kept alive for about 47 days in massive confinement sheds (Davis). Christopher Leonard, an American meat investigator, stated that “United States broiler chickens are usually raised with 20,000 other birds in a shed containing 16,000 square feet, meaning each bird has less than a square foot” (FFAC). Broiler chickens make up 95% of the land animals slaughtered for meat globally each year (FFAC). On the other hand, laying hens are only used for egg production. Most layer hens in the U.S. spend their lives, about two to three years, in a battery cage (FFAC). Normal chickens only lay 10 to 12 eggs per year in natural conditions, however, layer hens are bred to lay more than 300 eggs a year. In crowded battery cages, hens cannot spread their wings, bathe themselves, perch, nest, or lay eggs normally. When they are no longer able to lay eggs or their egg production declines, they are sent to the slaughterhouse. Both factory-chicken types are highly prone to experiencing rough handling, stress, trauma, injuries, and death as they are quickly loaded in crates to take to factories for processing.
In the factory farming process, most chickens spend their whole lives suffering, confined in small spaces where they develop conditions that are likely to kill them off. Most warehouses-like sheds are overcrowded, allowing the chickens no room to move around or do anything. The infested sheds are most likely contaminated with feces and poisonous Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria that sicken the birds (Richards). Excretory ammonia fumes blind chickens and gives them eye diseases, skin conditions, heart congestion, swelling, and severe respiratory problems (Richards). In addition, broiler chickens are mutilated by being debeaked, having their combs cut off, having removed leg spurs, and clipped toes. Not only this, but they end up being genetically manipulated to the point where they grow too quickly and cannot even support their own body weight, ending up sitting in waste for the entirety of their lives (Richards). While being transported to slaughterhouses, chickens are denied the basic needs of life like food, water, and shelter, and are exposed to the harsh weather conditions for up to days. Due to the nonexistent FDA regulations, chickens have no protection from the slaughtering process and are often conscious of the entire process of having their throats split open and being boiled alive (Richards). For several weeks, chickens live in a shed without sunlight or fresh air. Some die from heart attacks, infections, starvation, and dehydration when they are unable to access food or water due to leg fractures (Equality). Some chicken’s weight increases from 1.5 ounces to over 9 pounds, which is the equivalent of a human baby growing to more than 600 pounds in 2 months (Equality). This is the sad life of the average chicken going through the factory-farming process.
Chickens in the factory farm industry are killed in brutal ways. Animals are supposed to be stunned so that they do not feel the process of being killed, but the speed of production lines gets in the way of that. The factory farming process includes killing as many animals per hour as possible, regardless of whether they are stunned or not. Most chickens wind up experiencing death hung upside down on metal shackles while their heads are dunked into electrified water, awaiting the painful slit of their throats (Media). The electrified water is supposed to stun them, but birds often avoid it or are not properly stunned (Humane League). At Case Farms’ Chicken Plant in Canton, chickens were dumped into a chute where they were to be stunned by an electric pulse before entering the “kill room,” where razors would split their throats as they passed (Grabell). Afterward, they would be sent to a “defeathering room'' where the dead birds were met with scalding hot water and a mechanical machine that would pluck their feathers (Grabell).
The United States does not care about chickens unless they are being used as resources for the United State’s benefit. The U.S. legal system has no laws in place that protect chickens from the horrendous harm of factory farms. The legal system treats animals based on how society uses those animals and whether society sees it as necessary or justified (ALDF). An animal could have different protection from the law based on how they are used (ALDF). Four killers once broke into a Foster Farms facility and brutally murdered 920 chickens by beating them with golf clubs and other weapons. The four killers were charged with animal cruelty under the California anti-cruelty law (ALDF). The act of killing almost one thousand chickens was considered a crime, whilst the inhumane slaughter of almost 10 billion chickens per year for food is legal (ALDF). This just goes to show how nobody cares for chickens on factory farms unless they are being used as assets.
Most laws regarding the safety of farm animals in the United States are nonexistent or disregarded. As a whole, the laws are set up to protect the financial interest of farmers and industrial agriculture corporations (Media). The only two federal laws helpful to farm animals are the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the 28-Hour Law (Media). The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act requires animals to be unconscious before being killed and the 28-hour Law requires that animals be given a rest period every 28 hours during transportation (Media). These laws are obviously disregarded when it comes to factory farming, especially when it comes to the life of chickens.
The horrid factory farming of chickens, of course, also affects humans in a negative way, too. The ammonia from factory farms and chickens spreads and contributes to air pollution, which harms the environment and harms people (Humane League). In addition, the meat that comes from the chicken is placed in grocery stores, supermarkets, and fast-food places for humans to buy and consume. Bacterial contamination of meat, like salmonella and E. coli is prominent in chicken meat, which can infect and hurt people, too. Antibiotics given to chickens kill a lot of bacteria but can allow drug-resistant bugs to survive and multiply, possibly being eaten directly by consumers of factory-farm products (Humane League). This tactic, antibiotic resistance, is estimated to kill 10 million people and put 24 million into extreme poverty by 2050 (Humane League).
To combat these serious, life-threatening issues, it is important that we spread awareness about the process of factory farming and how it is affecting everyone involved. Some actions people can take to help support the destruction of factory-farming chickens are striving to keep chicken meat off their plates, shopping for vegetarian alternative meals at local grocery stores, Whole Foods, or natural food stores, and buying more plant-based meals instead. That way, chickens will be off the menu and factory-farm industries will be forced to stop the process of brutally killing chickens to satisfy consumers. Furthermore, working and volunteering with nonprofit organizations, in favor of stopping the purchase of factory-farmed chicken meat can help, too. The stopping of the detrimental factory farms will better the lives of chickens, no longer subjecting them to this form of abuse.
Works Cited
Animal Legal Defense Fund. "Animal Cruelty? The Legal Way to Abuse a Chicken." Animal Legal Defense Fund, 7 May 2015, aldf.org/article/animal-cruelty-the-legal-way-to-abuse-a-chicken/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Awareness Coalition, Factory Farming. "What Is Chicken Factory Farming, and How Bad Is It?" Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, 28 Dec. 2021, ffacoalition.org/articles/what-is-chicken-factory-farming-and-how-bad-is-it/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Davis, Karen. "Chickens: Their Life and Death in Farming Operations." Britannica, www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/chickens-their-life-and-death-in-.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Equality, Animal. "The Life of a Chicken in a Factory Farm." Animal Equality, Sharon Núñez, animalequality.org/the-cruelty-of-chicken-farming/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Grabell, Michael. "Exploitation and Abuse at the Chicken Plant." The New Yorker, 1 May 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/exploitation-and-abuse-at-the-chic.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Hengstenberg, Barbara. "Factory Farming: Chickens." Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, www.piedmontrefuge.org/factory-farming-chickens#. Accessed 11 August 2022.
League The Humane. "Factory Farming: What It Is and Why It's a Problem." The Humane League, 1 Dec. 2020, thehumaneleague.org/article/what-is-factory-farming. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Media Sentient. "Farmed Animals: The Exploitation of Animals on Factory Farms." Sentient Media, 7 May 2020, sentientmedia.org/farmed-animals/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Network, The Grow. "Inside Chicken Factory Farms—The Awful Truth." The Grow Network, 11 Nov. 2017, thegrownetwork.com/raising-chickens-factory-farms/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Protection of World Animals. "10 Facts You Should Know About the Factory-Farmed Chickens." World Animal Protection, 29 Nov. 2016, www.worldanimalprotection.org/news/10-facts-you-should-know-about-factor.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Richards, Jennie. "The Life of a Factory Farm Chicken." Humane Decisions, 1 Nov. 2014, www.humanedecisions.com/the-life-of-a-factory-farm-chicken/. Accessed 28 May 2022.Sanctuary Farm. "Considering the Backyard Chickens? Ask These 5 Important Questions First." Farm Sanctuary, 10 March. 2022, www.farmsanctuary.org/news-stories/5-questions-about-getting-backyard-ch.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Imagine waking up surrounded by thousands of other chickens, desperately calling out for a mother who you will never get to meet. Suddenly you are tossed into a garbage bag to be ground up alive, or thrown into a crate to endure a life of suffering until your throat is split open and you are boiled alive. This Is the sick and cruel life of the majority of chickens in a variety of high-income countries, all due to factory farming.
Factory farming is a system of production where animals are treated as raw materials in order to produce meat, fish, eggs, and dairy sold in markets of higher-income countries (FFAC). When the world keeps striving to produce animal products, agricultural industries work even harder to bring more animals into the process, forcing animals upon endless manipulation and having shortened life spans just for human desire (Media). In reality, farmed animals are the most abused and exploited animals in the world due to factory farming. Narrowing it down, a majority of the chickens in the United States, an estimated 99%, are currently being confined on factory farms (FFAC). The process ultimately tortures and kills them just for the sake of humans’ wants for food.
Seeing that chickens make up 88% of farmed land animals, they could arguably be the most exploited animal species ever (Media). For ages, factory-farmed chickens have been split into two categories: broiler chickens and laying hens. In the wild chickens can live up to ten years, but since broiler chickens are only raised for meat, they are only kept alive for about 47 days in massive confinement sheds (Davis). Christopher Leonard, an American meat investigator, stated that “United States broiler chickens are usually raised with 20,000 other birds in a shed containing 16,000 square feet, meaning each bird has less than a square foot” (FFAC). Broiler chickens make up 95% of the land animals slaughtered for meat globally each year (FFAC). On the other hand, laying hens are only used for egg production. Most layer hens in the U.S. spend their lives, about two to three years, in a battery cage (FFAC). Normal chickens only lay 10 to 12 eggs per year in natural conditions, however, layer hens are bred to lay more than 300 eggs a year. In crowded battery cages, hens cannot spread their wings, bathe themselves, perch, nest, or lay eggs normally. When they are no longer able to lay eggs or their egg production declines, they are sent to the slaughterhouse. Both factory-chicken types are highly prone to experiencing rough handling, stress, trauma, injuries, and death as they are quickly loaded in crates to take to factories for processing.
In the factory farming process, most chickens spend their whole lives suffering, confined in small spaces where they develop conditions that are likely to kill them off. Most warehouses-like sheds are overcrowded, allowing the chickens no room to move around or do anything. The infested sheds are most likely contaminated with feces and poisonous Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria that sicken the birds (Richards). Excretory ammonia fumes blind chickens and gives them eye diseases, skin conditions, heart congestion, swelling, and severe respiratory problems (Richards). In addition, broiler chickens are mutilated by being debeaked, having their combs cut off, having removed leg spurs, and clipped toes. Not only this, but they end up being genetically manipulated to the point where they grow too quickly and cannot even support their own body weight, ending up sitting in waste for the entirety of their lives (Richards). While being transported to slaughterhouses, chickens are denied the basic needs of life like food, water, and shelter, and are exposed to the harsh weather conditions for up to days. Due to the nonexistent FDA regulations, chickens have no protection from the slaughtering process and are often conscious of the entire process of having their throats split open and being boiled alive (Richards). For several weeks, chickens live in a shed without sunlight or fresh air. Some die from heart attacks, infections, starvation, and dehydration when they are unable to access food or water due to leg fractures (Equality). Some chicken’s weight increases from 1.5 ounces to over 9 pounds, which is the equivalent of a human baby growing to more than 600 pounds in 2 months (Equality). This is the sad life of the average chicken going through the factory-farming process.
Chickens in the factory farm industry are killed in brutal ways. Animals are supposed to be stunned so that they do not feel the process of being killed, but the speed of production lines gets in the way of that. The factory farming process includes killing as many animals per hour as possible, regardless of whether they are stunned or not. Most chickens wind up experiencing death hung upside down on metal shackles while their heads are dunked into electrified water, awaiting the painful slit of their throats (Media). The electrified water is supposed to stun them, but birds often avoid it or are not properly stunned (Humane League). At Case Farms’ Chicken Plant in Canton, chickens were dumped into a chute where they were to be stunned by an electric pulse before entering the “kill room,” where razors would split their throats as they passed (Grabell). Afterward, they would be sent to a “defeathering room'' where the dead birds were met with scalding hot water and a mechanical machine that would pluck their feathers (Grabell).
The United States does not care about chickens unless they are being used as resources for the United State’s benefit. The U.S. legal system has no laws in place that protect chickens from the horrendous harm of factory farms. The legal system treats animals based on how society uses those animals and whether society sees it as necessary or justified (ALDF). An animal could have different protection from the law based on how they are used (ALDF). Four killers once broke into a Foster Farms facility and brutally murdered 920 chickens by beating them with golf clubs and other weapons. The four killers were charged with animal cruelty under the California anti-cruelty law (ALDF). The act of killing almost one thousand chickens was considered a crime, whilst the inhumane slaughter of almost 10 billion chickens per year for food is legal (ALDF). This just goes to show how nobody cares for chickens on factory farms unless they are being used as assets.
Most laws regarding the safety of farm animals in the United States are nonexistent or disregarded. As a whole, the laws are set up to protect the financial interest of farmers and industrial agriculture corporations (Media). The only two federal laws helpful to farm animals are the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the 28-Hour Law (Media). The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act requires animals to be unconscious before being killed and the 28-hour Law requires that animals be given a rest period every 28 hours during transportation (Media). These laws are obviously disregarded when it comes to factory farming, especially when it comes to the life of chickens.
The horrid factory farming of chickens, of course, also affects humans in a negative way, too. The ammonia from factory farms and chickens spreads and contributes to air pollution, which harms the environment and harms people (Humane League). In addition, the meat that comes from the chicken is placed in grocery stores, supermarkets, and fast-food places for humans to buy and consume. Bacterial contamination of meat, like salmonella and E. coli is prominent in chicken meat, which can infect and hurt people, too. Antibiotics given to chickens kill a lot of bacteria but can allow drug-resistant bugs to survive and multiply, possibly being eaten directly by consumers of factory-farm products (Humane League). This tactic, antibiotic resistance, is estimated to kill 10 million people and put 24 million into extreme poverty by 2050 (Humane League).
To combat these serious, life-threatening issues, it is important that we spread awareness about the process of factory farming and how it is affecting everyone involved. Some actions people can take to help support the destruction of factory-farming chickens are striving to keep chicken meat off their plates, shopping for vegetarian alternative meals at local grocery stores, Whole Foods, or natural food stores, and buying more plant-based meals instead. That way, chickens will be off the menu and factory-farm industries will be forced to stop the process of brutally killing chickens to satisfy consumers. Furthermore, working and volunteering with nonprofit organizations, in favor of stopping the purchase of factory-farmed chicken meat can help, too. The stopping of the detrimental factory farms will better the lives of chickens, no longer subjecting them to this form of abuse.
Works Cited
Animal Legal Defense Fund. "Animal Cruelty? The Legal Way to Abuse a Chicken." Animal Legal Defense Fund, 7 May 2015, aldf.org/article/animal-cruelty-the-legal-way-to-abuse-a-chicken/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Awareness Coalition, Factory Farming. "What Is Chicken Factory Farming, and How Bad Is It?" Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, 28 Dec. 2021, ffacoalition.org/articles/what-is-chicken-factory-farming-and-how-bad-is-it/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Davis, Karen. "Chickens: Their Life and Death in Farming Operations." Britannica, www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/chickens-their-life-and-death-in-.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Equality, Animal. "The Life of a Chicken in a Factory Farm." Animal Equality, Sharon Núñez, animalequality.org/the-cruelty-of-chicken-farming/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Grabell, Michael. "Exploitation and Abuse at the Chicken Plant." The New Yorker, 1 May 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/exploitation-and-abuse-at-the-chic.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Hengstenberg, Barbara. "Factory Farming: Chickens." Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge, www.piedmontrefuge.org/factory-farming-chickens#. Accessed 11 August 2022.
League The Humane. "Factory Farming: What It Is and Why It's a Problem." The Humane League, 1 Dec. 2020, thehumaneleague.org/article/what-is-factory-farming. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Media Sentient. "Farmed Animals: The Exploitation of Animals on Factory Farms." Sentient Media, 7 May 2020, sentientmedia.org/farmed-animals/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Network, The Grow. "Inside Chicken Factory Farms—The Awful Truth." The Grow Network, 11 Nov. 2017, thegrownetwork.com/raising-chickens-factory-farms/. Accessed 11 August 2022.
Protection of World Animals. "10 Facts You Should Know About the Factory-Farmed Chickens." World Animal Protection, 29 Nov. 2016, www.worldanimalprotection.org/news/10-facts-you-should-know-about-factor.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
Richards, Jennie. "The Life of a Factory Farm Chicken." Humane Decisions, 1 Nov. 2014, www.humanedecisions.com/the-life-of-a-factory-farm-chicken/. Accessed 28 May 2022.Sanctuary Farm. "Considering the Backyard Chickens? Ask These 5 Important Questions First." Farm Sanctuary, 10 March. 2022, www.farmsanctuary.org/news-stories/5-questions-about-getting-backyard-ch.... Accessed 11 August 2022.
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