starve the hens for four to fourteen days causing them to lose 25
to 30 percent of their body weight along with their feathers.
Water deprivation, drugs such as chlormadinone, and harsh light and
blackout schedules can be part of this brutal treatment.
Even eating is gruesome for the battery hen, who must stretch her
neck across a "feeder fence" to reach the monotonous mash in the
trough, a repeated action that over time wears away her neck
feathers and causes throat blisters. In addition, the fine mash
particles stick to the inside of the hen's mouth attracting
bacteria causing painful mouth ulcers. A mold toxin, T-2, can
taint the mash creating even more mouth ulcers in the hens, who
have no choice but to consume what is in front of them.
Battery hens are debeaked with a hot
machine blade once and often
twice during their lives, typically at one day old and again at
seven weeks old, because a young beak will often grow back.
Debeaking causes severe, chronic pain and suffering researchers
compare to human phantom limb and stump pain. Between the horn and
bone of the beak is a think layer of highly sensitive tissue. The
hot blade cuts through this sensitive tissue impairing the hen's
ability to eat, drink, wipe her beak, and preen normally.
Debeaking is done to offset the effects of the compulsive pecking
that can afflict birds designed by nature to roam, scratch, and
peck at the ground all day, not sit in prison; and to save feed
costs and promote conversion of less food into more eggs, because
debeaked birds have impaired grasping ability and are in pain and
distress, therefore eating less, flinging their food less, and
"wasting" less energy than intact birds. Diseases of Poultry
(1991) states that " A different form of cannibalism is now being
observed in beak-trimmed birds kept in cages. The area about the
eyes is black and blue due to subcutaneous hemorrhage, wattles are
dark and swollen with extravasated blood, and ear lobes are black
and necrotic" (p. 827).
The battery system depends on debeaking and antibiotics. Many of
the antibiotics used to control the rampant viral and bacterial
diseases of chickens in crowded confinement can also be used to
manipulate egg production. For example, virginiamycin is said to
increase feed conversion per egg laid, bacitracin to stimulate egg
production, and oxytetracycline to improve eggshell quality. In
Factory Farming (1991), Andrew Johnson says virtually 100 percent
of laying hens in the United States are routinely dosed with
antibiotics (p. 29).
At the end of the laying period, the hens are flung from the
battery to the transport cages by their wings, legs, head, feet, or
whatever is grabbed. Many bones are broken. Chicken "stuffers"
are paid for speed, not gentleness. Half-naked from feather loss
and terrorized by a lifetime of abuse, hens in transit embody a
state of fear so severe that many are paralyzed by the time they
reach the slaughterhouse. At slaughter the hens are a mass of
broken bones, oozing abscesses, bright red bruises, and internal
hemorrhaging making them fit only for shredding into products that
hide the true state of their flesh and their lives, such as chicken
soups and pies, school lunches and other food programs developed by
the egg industry to dump dead laying hens onto consumers in diced
up form.
To date, there are no federal welfare laws regulating poultry
raising, transport, or slaughter in the United States. The U.S.
egg industry opposes humane slaughter legislation for poultry,
claiming that laying fowl cannot be economically rendered
insensible to pain prior to having their throats cut or being
decapitated. There is no reason to assume the industry will reform
of its own accord. While working to improve the conditions under
which chickens are raised, transported, and killed in current
society, consumers should boycott battery eggs and discover the
variety of egg-free alternatives in cooking and dining.
What Can I Do?
- Contact United poultry Concerns for ideas including our all-
vegetarian cookbook, "Instead of Chicken, Instead of Turkey : A
Poultryless 'Poultry' Potpourri" $10.
- Try this great egg substitute:
The Washington Post, Dec. 30, 1992
E3: You can certainly make your own no-fat added, salt-free,
preservative-free egg substitute in the microwave. Combine 1 C
water & 1 Tb flax seeds (available at health food stores) in a 2 C
measure and microwave, uncovered, on full power until the seeds
begin to dance and the mixture boils. Continue to boil for 2 to 3
minutes until the mixture has been reduced to about 3/4 Cup. Scoop
the mixture into a processor and combine for about 30 seconds, to
break up the seeds. Strain. (It's OK if some seeds get through
the strainer.) You'll have about 2/3 C of the mixture, which looks
like egg whites and smells slightly sweet and spicy. Refrigerate
for at least 15 minutes before using. Or cover and store,
refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks. You can't scramble it, but this
egg substitute is great in batters for pancakes, waffles, cookies,
muffins, quick breads and French toast. Use 1/4 C to equal 1 whole
egg or 2 egg whites.
For more information contact:
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
Phone: 757-678-7875
