Animal Welfare, Chickens: Factory or Field

Imagine ordering a delicious box of chicken nuggets. It arrives at your table; you open the box. The smell wafts out, your mouth starts to water, and you can’t wait to sink your teeth into that delicious breaded goodness. However, once you learn about the horrible treatment of chickens and their awful living conditions, it won’t seem so scrumptious. Chickens deserve better living conditions. First, they are highly social animals, but confined in factories, they cannot act on their instincts despite their intelligent and gregarious nature.

Secondly, the factory living conditions are appalling, so dirty and overcrowded that chickens are housed in a cage that offers them less space than a sheet of letter-sized paper. Lastly, factory chickens are fed arsenic, a chemical believed to promote growth, which can also cause cancer in humans.

Chickens should have better living conditions because they are social animals. However, when they’re in factories, they can’t follow their instincts to form a flock and be with other chickens. Chickens are gregarious animals, usually found in flocks. They have a complex social hierarchy, establishing a pecking order. Similar to an ecosystem, when one chicken is removed from the pecking order, the flock is sent into a disruption until a new chicken is found to replace it. When chickens are kept in factories, they cannot follow their natural instincts, such as roosting in trees, lying in the sun, or taking dust baths. Studies have shown that chickens have good memories and can add and subtract. In one study, chicks were hatched with five objects. When scientists put three objects behind one screen and two behind another, the chicks chose the one with three objects. Later, the scientists started moving the objects between the two screens. In the end, the chicks still chose the one with more of the objects. This study shows that chickens are intelligent from hatching. Such smart animals shouldn’t be housed in dirty, grimy cages, never seeing sunlight, stuck in this wired box of torture for eternity.

Next, the living conditions in factories are very dirty and cramped; cages being small, with five to ten chickens in one cage. Because of the tiny space, chickens often suffer from feather loss, cuts, scrapes, bruises, and usually have to stand atop other chickens. Factory chickens are typically covered with pink spots, where all the rubbing against cage wires has worn down the feathers to the flesh. They are poking their heads between the cage wires, anxious to be let out, but not knowing they will never be free. Some poultry industries have switched to cage-free systems, and chickens can walk around and spread their wings. These chickens are usually housed on farms. However, just because they are cage-free, doesn’t mean they are cruelty-free. Both cage-free and caged chickens have their beaks seared off with hot irons, and both usually die when they are under the age of two. Dr. Michael Appleby, one of the world’s leading poultry welfare experts, writes, “Battery cages present inherent animal welfare problems, most notably by their small size and barren conditions. Hens are unable to engage in many of their natural behaviors and endure high levels of stress and frustration. Cage-free egg production, while not perfect, does not entail such inherent animal welfare disadvantages and is a very good step in the right direction for the egg industry.”

Lastly, a 2006 study has shown that chicken meat contains a high amount of arsenic, a chemical that may cause cancer. Arsenic is a natural element found in soil, air, water, and animals. There are two types of arsenic: organic and inorganic. Organic arsenic is mixed only with carbon, while inorganic arsenic is mixed with compounds other than carbon. Organic arsenic can be found in some foods such as fish and shellfish, and is much less toxic. On the other hand, inorganic arsenic is found in contaminated water and some treated woods and is known to cause cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, poultry is one of the highest sources of arsenic. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer), a part of the WHO (World Health Organization), classifies arsenic compounds as carcinogenic to humans. It can also cause bruising, muscle weakness, diarrhea, and skin changes like rashes.

In conclusion, chickens should have more humane living conditions because they are very social animals. Their current living conditions are terrible and unhealthy which could cause diseases such as cancer. Chickens provide us with numerous benefits, therefore it is necessary that we treat these animals, which are so important to our society, with respect.

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