An example of a free range farm
Everyone seems to know that free range eggs are more humane than those from battery farms, but in this article I want to take a look at why continuing to eat eggs (even free range) is contributing hugely to animal misery. Although free range is an important step in the right direction, meaning one kind of horrific abuse the hens will no longer have to endure, the only way to ensure chickens do not suffer is to stop eating eggs altogether.
Let’s take a look at why vegans do not eat eggs…
Would You Grind Up Baby Chicks Alive?
If you wouldn’t then you probably shouldn’t eat eggs. Battery farms, free range farms, barn laid farms, hobby farmers they all share one thing in common – they have to get their layer hens from somewhere. They order their layer hens from companies who breed birds especially for the purpose of becoming commercial layers. The companies that produce these birds do so by mating two different breeds together. A hen from one breed and a rooster from another. They create the layer hen (a hybrid) for maximum amount of eggs for the
Discarded male chicks dead, dying, crushed
cheapest amount of money (food). The exact “formula” for the hybrid layer hen is a closely guarded secret by the industry.
When the chicks hatch they are sorted into males and females. Like every other part of the industry this is a clinical process and similar to the way factory workers would sort inanimate objects (eg screws and bolts). Before they are 72 hours old the chicks arrive on a conveyor belt and the females are sorted to one side and the males to the other. About half of the chicks are male.
Males are then killed, as there is no need for them in the industry. Their bodies are not suitable for meat, they are not used for breeding and they cannot lay eggs. Various farms use different methods to kill the chicks, although often the cheapest and easiest way will win.
Common Methods Include:
- Crushing/Suffocation – Chicks are piled into garbage bags alive, where they are either crushed as more chicks are piled on top of them, or they suffocate in the bag. Chicks will try to make their way to the top, but will not succeed. They are treated as trash whilst still alive. Whilst some chicks are still alive these bags of chicks may be spread onto fields using machinery to fertilize crops.
- Maceration – A high speed grinder is used. The chicks are dropped alive into the grinder.
- Cervical Dislocation – Breaking the chicks neck (less common)
- Electrocution - A new and apparently more humane method (not sure electrocution is all that humane. I’ve been shocked before and it didn’t feel good)
- Gassing - The chicks are gassed to death. This is probably the most humane, most expensive and least used method of killing.
Bear in mind that if you are a backyard farmer and decide to avoid the cruelty above by buying fertilized eggs, rather than chicks and using an incubator to raise them, you will still need to rehome the roosters that will account for about half of your new chicks. The shelters are already overrun with roosters and often cannot keep more than a few at a time.
Want to check out a company that breeds layer hens? Click here.
Debeaking is Painful
For the female chickens the suffering is just getting started when they arrive at their new home, where they will live the next 1.5-2years of their life. In battery cages chickens are crammed together, so that they cannot even stretch their wings. The conditions of battery farms have been widely documented. Due to these cramped conditions the hens may
Debeaking is very painful for the chicks.
become aggressive and peck at each other. This is why debeaking is a universal practice amongst commercial poultry farmers.
The code of practice allows up to half of the upper beak to be removed and a third of the lower beak to be removed. Hot blades are used to remove part of the beak with no anesthetic. At first people believed that there was no feeling in a hen’s beak. However now we know better. This quote is from Wikipedia about chickens’ beaks:
The beak contains nociceptors that sense pain and noxious stimuli. Beak trimming excites nociceptors. Following a trim, the nociceptors in the beak stump show abnormal patterns of neural discharge, which has been interpreted as acute pain.
So basically is hurts like hell! Despite this knowledge debeaking is still common practice and it does not just happen on battery farms. Free range hens are not in cages, but they are often still very crowded together, which can result in cannibalism. Therefore debeaking is allowed and very commonly used on free range farms. Even eggs labeled as humane allow for debeaking. Naturally hens are not cannibals, but even free range farmers do not allow a natural life for their hens – far from it.
Forced Molting – Starving Hens
Another practice that is common for both battery and free range hens is that of Forced Molting. Naturally chickens would molt in the Autumn and during this time they would produce less eggs. The purpose of natural molting is so that the hens will have full, fresh feathers by winter. After her molt the hen’s reproductive system will have recovered somewhat and she will start laying eggs again, although usually 10-30% less than in their first year.
In factory farms and sometimes free range farms too, the hens are given artificial lighting, feed and a very unnatural environment. They also lay a large amount of eggs (due to
Hens being starved into forced molting
breeding, diet and lighting). This means that they will eventually produce less eggs. In this situation the birds are either sent to slaughter and a new flock brought in, or the company may use forced molting, so that after forced molting the birds will start to lay eggs again.
To induce molting a farmer has to subject the hens to stress. This can be done at any time of the year and as you can imagine is incredibly inhumane. The most common method of inducing molting is to starve the chickens. A farmer may withhold all food for a period of 2 weeks. Some farmers may also follow this with a short withdrawal from water as well. Can you imagine how awful this must be for the hens? Some hens will starve to death in this period. In fact starving hens in this way has been proved to be so cruel that it has been banned in the UK and EU. In those countries farmers can still induce molting by causing stress in other ways.
Cramped Conditions
Although free range hens are not kept in cages and there may be a few more humane farms out there that let them wander in fields, most commonly hens are still kept in cramped conditions. Thousands of hens are packed into sheds and although they must have access to the outdoors, there are no regulations on the size of the outdoor space. This means that thousands of hens could be sharing a tiny outdoor space, with the majority of them cramped indoors unable to express their natural behaviors.
A 'free range' farm
Just like battery farmers, free range farmers are in it for the money. This means that when chickens break bones or become ill they will more than likely be left to die. Veterinary treatment is far too expensive and the farmers have so many chickens it would be very hard to monitor the health of all of them.
I agree that free range eggs are a better choice than battery eggs, but the lives these chickens live is hardly natural or humane.
Slaughter
The day will come when the chickens get out of the farm. Sadly this day is when they are going to the slaughter house. All farms will slaughter the hens when they are between 1-2 years of age. These hens are known as ‘spent hens’. This is because their egg production will have slowed down significantly. After this new, young hens will come in to take their place. Naturally a hen could live to 9-11 years.
Slaughter for ex-layers is as disgusting and inhumane as the slaughter of broiler chickens. The animals are often not effectively stunned before killing and will die a painful death. Although their meat is not high quality they will enter the food chain as soup, pies, chicken stock or animal food.
Stressed chickens just before slaughter
In 2003 a public outcry brought attention to a California ranch that was reported to have discarded thousands of live hens using a wood chipper; no charges were brought because, as
it turned out, this is a common industry practice.
Hens are slaughtered at this age whether on battery farms or free range. Either way by buying eggs you are contributing to slaughter.
Go Vegan!
Cutting eggs out of your diet is surprisingly easy. These days there are excellent egg replacements you can use to bake cakes etc. If you are not much of a cook you can buy plenty of delicious vegan meals, cakes and other goodies ready made.
By going vegan you are helping to make a difference. Not only will you not be contributing to the cruelty, but your diet choices may help influence others and make people think about their food choices.
For a free vegan starter pack click here.
As part of our mission here at StartanAnimalSanctuary.com we want to inform the public on the truth about egg production. We also hope to rescue some ‘spent hens’ that would otherwise be headed to slaughter and show people that chickens are beautiful animals that deserve compassion and love.
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