More than 40 billion chickens are slaughtered worldwide for meat and are raised in sheds of 50,000 birds. This spikes up the chances of exchanging and catching diseases by a significant amount but regardless of those chances, chickens are often injected with only antibiotics to handle illnesses later on down the road, which is easier and less cost efficient. Not only is that precaution taken but the chickens are vaccinated before their actual birth to fight any common diseases. About 360 million hens are raised for eggs in the U.S. and 100 million “spent” hens are killed in the slaughterhouses every year. Chickens have a lifespan of 10 years but their egg production pace begins to weigh down at about 2 years into life, along with a 20% decrease …show more content…
each year after that, and once the chickens are laying eggs at a slower pace is when factories decide to kill off them off. Taking a direction to the medical care aspect of the chickens, packed factory farms cannot raise chickens without injecting or feeding the birds drugs in order to enhance either size or to prevent infections, and in addition to that, factory farm workers force and manipulate female hens to produce around 300 eggs a year, when in comparison to wild hens, whom only produce 10 to 15 eggs annually: there is a significant difference in the surplus that’s happening in the forced breeding and egg production between factory chickens and wild chickens. Around 3 trillion pounds of waste produced by factory-farmed animals each year is usually used to fertilize crops and habitually ends up leaking through waterways containing the drugs and bacteria that the chickens were carrying.
There have been studies that showcase people picking up illnesses from their local water line, in which is related to the feces of chickens who had already been carrying some form of disease and/or infection, some of which has irony due to the fact that the chicken have picked up on “ammonia burn”, along with other illnesses, developed from the high exposure of the ammonia, linked to the accumulation of feces within these factories. Heart failure has showed to effect the chickens at a rate of at least 4.7% and is also linked to the manipulated genetic practices that they take on chickens either before birth or after, which is referred into simpler words as “baby hearts with adult-sized bodies”. Additionally, the factories “catcher” grab chickens in the middle of the night, when they least expect it, and harshly stuff the chicken into crates in which they are later loaded into trucks to be taken to slaughterhouses, although, many of the chickens die before even arriving to the slaughterhouses because of the rough impact; they suffer from lacerations, hemorrhages, and a very common one, heart failure. Along with other infections that the chickens develop such as salmonella and campylobacter, of which is known to make people sick with foodborne poisons. A chicken’s short life span within a factory farm, consists of abuse, infections, diseases, manipulation, torture, and death, sometimes even before they were sentenced to be
slaughtered.
Slaughterhouse workers constantly face the risk of serious injury or even death. Many have dealt with blood, animals, and sharp knives. Along with these conditions, the absurd speed of work further increases the chances for injury. While corporations were regulated in the early twentieth century, lax of control in previous years has caused them to return to dangerous methods of production for efficiency. Animals are in a far greater amount of pain than workers since corporations have bred them for the main purpose of fast food. The inhumane treatment of animals, such as one worker’s method of stomping on live chickens, has caused some to argue for better treatment. However, corporations have fought hard to keep policies the same, and as result, their opponents’ demands are almost never met. These issues are evidence that fast food corporations have grown too powerful and must be regulated.
Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D. Shirley Leung said, when these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth (B2). This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was fought against in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using machines and assembly-line techniques. Unfortunately, this trend of mass production has resulted in incredible pain and suffering for the animals. Animals today raised on factory farms have had their genes manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals to encourage high productivity. In the fast food industry, animals are not considered animals at all; “they are food producing machines” (BBC). They are confined to small cages with metal bars, ammonia-filled air and artificial lighting or no lighting at all. They are subjected to horrible mutilations: beak searing, tail docking, ear cutting and castration. The worst thing is that ...
Chickens are one of the top most tortured animals in factory farms. Farmers get the most money for chickens that are heavier and have enlarged thighs and breasts. Like most factory farmed animals, broiler chickens are raised in overcrowded cages their entire life, and become very aggressive. Because of this aggressiveness the employees of the farms cut of their beaks and toes without any type of painkiller or an anesthetic just to keep them from fighting. After being “debeaked” some chickens are then not able to eat and starve. Layer chickens lay 90-95% of the eggs sold in the U.S. (2013b) The torture starts the day they are born. Chicks are placed on a belt, where an employee than picks up each chick to see if it is a male or female. Newborn male chicks are thrown into trash bags, ground up alive, crushed, and killed many other inhumane ways.
Chickens have to endure suffering that no living thing should have to go through. The egg laying chickens have to be forced into tiny cages without enough room to stretch their wings. Up to 8 hens are crammed in to a cage that is the size of a folded newspaper, about 11"-14". Stress from the confinement leads to severe feather loss so the chicken will be almost completely bald in the cold cages. When the chickens are of egg-laying age, there beaks are cut off without any pain killers to ease the pain, they do this so the chickens don’t break their own eggs and eat them because the chickens are hungry.
How would you feel being raised for slaughter? Not being able to move because of a large crowd in such a confined space? How would you feel being encircled by disease, illness and constant abuse? To animals, this is known as a factory farm.
"Record-High Antibiotic Sales for Meat and Poultry Production." pewhealth.org. The Pew Charitable Trust, 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 May 2014. .
Meatpacking has become the most dangerous job in America. Unlike poultry plants, in which almost all tasks are performed by machines, most of the work in a slaughterhouse is done by hand. Hazards of the job include injuries from the various machines and knives, strain to the body from poor working conditions, and even methamphetamine use in order to keep up with the production line. Women face the added threat of sexual harassment. This chapter opens with an anecdote about the largest recall of food in the nation’s history. In 1997 approximately 35 million pounds of ground beef was recalled by Hudson Foods because a strain of E Coli was found in the food. However, by the time the beef was recalled, 25 million pounds had already been eaten. Schlosser notes that the nature of food poisoning is changing. Prior to the rise of large meatpacking plants, people would become ill from bad food in small, localized arenas. Now, because meat is distributed all over the nation, an outbreak of food poisoning in one town may indicate nation-wide epidemic. Every day in the United States, 200, 000 people are sickened by a food borne
...hen rules and the enforcement of them in the meatpacking industry and slaughterhouses. However, Schlosser disregards to provide a solution. He simply points the finger and leaves the reader depressed, without means or logic to correct the situation. After reading, we enthusiastically agreed with Schlosser when he pulled on our emotional series. His logic was also substantial in this chapter with his thorough research and extensive truthful support. However, because he does not offer any solution to the problem, it diminished significantly from his argument. Although Schlosser's argument cannot be labeled an attack, in our minds, it certainly became nothing short of an overly emotional, well-jointed rage. Schlosser uses these numbers to show the errors of certain meat packing companies and in turn, how this has caused massive illness and injury to the general public.
Since the main goal for these corporations are to maximize their profit, it is in their best interest to come up with the most efficient and productive techniques to accomplish this objective. Many harmful effects are overlooked by corporations and the government in order to increase productivity and keep costs low. The details with the food itself, the animals that are produced, the workers in the assembly lines, and the actual consumers that may lead to numerous harmful effects. The film examines the industrial side of meat production by showing footage inside of the meat processing planets and describes this as ‘inhumane, economically and environmentally unsustainable’. There was a problem with the bacterial cell, e. coli, getting into food by unsanitary practices of the meat processing plants. Often cow and pigs would just stand in their own manure that contained e. coli for days on end and that would have the possibility of getting into the meat that is served to customers. Some food corporations had problems with exploitations of workers that contribute to their product. The film showed that many chicken farmers are treated poorly and dive deeper into debt by producing more and more. Companies will also target illegal foreign workers to make their products in order to cut down on costs as
Factory farms; a place where meat is produced for human consumption, this definition only describes how the industry started. In most factory farms, government regulation is lacking. This is to the disadvantage of billions of animals affected by the dirty business. When piglets are born they are divided into breeding sows, and others solely for their meat. Thousands of sows spend their lives in crammed cages, undergo numerous forced impregnations, and become sick because of their cages are overflowing with feces. However this is only the beginning of the story. These same animals are fed food littered with growth hormones, glass, syringes, and are forced to cannibalistic ways being fed their young’s testicles. Animals in the farming industry face innumerous atrocities including pain filled slaughter, forced growth rates, and overcrowding for the sake of taste, however each of these problems must be solved by enforcing the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and by switching to sustainable and/or organic farming methods.
Industrial farmers see chicken and other animals such as: cow, pigs, and goat as egg and dairy production and not as an intellectual individuals. From the birth of a baby chick to their death on the production line, chicken endure pain and suffer through out their entire short lives. Baby chicks are de-beak then they are move to battery cages that are wired up high in warehouses that are filled with artificial lighten. The cages are so confined that the ...
Recent concerns regarding the risks of Avian flu and other exotic diseases prompted some local poultry farmers to adopt strict biosecurity protocols in order to keep their birds safe. ...
Chickens are the most abused farm animals. In supermarkets chickens are different than they were 40 years ago because of the conditions they go through in the factory. Factory workers put these chickens or hens through chronic pain and it effects them greatly. Chicks are "debeaked" by searing their beaks off with a hot blade. "The beaks of chickens, turkeys, and ducks are often removed in factory farms to reduce the excessive feather pecking and cannibalism seen among stressed, overcrowded birds" (The National Humane Education Society). Egg laying animals can also be starved to shock their bodies into molting. Force molting is when chickens or hens are starved or denied any food for up to two weeks. This can contribute to suffering or early disease of chickens. "It's common for 5% to 10% of hens to die during the forced molting process" (Lin, Doris). Factory farms dominate food production and put animals through abusive environments that cause them
One reason most have them is for the eggs, chickens produce about 1 egg a day depending on the breed. When you raise your own chickens you control what they eat and they give you wonderful eggs in return. Most people think it is the same as a egg we buy at the market, well it isn’t. If you have ever had a farm fresh egg you will not want to buy store eggs again. The eggs that you buy at the market are from farms, but mass production farmers. These poor chickens are bred just to provide eggs; they usually are in a box/cage or a room with many, many other chickens. Feed only a mix that is usually the cheapest, no bugs, no grass. I mean the eggs are “normal”. They get shipped to a warehouse where they sit and wait to be shipped to markets all over. They have a expiration date because FDA requires it. Fresh eggs can sit on the counter without refrigeration for weeks, as long as they are not fertilized. A chicken that has access to a run with bugs, worms, grass, treats they get a little extra, so they produce an egg that has a deep yellow/orange yolk. It is so much tastier than a store bought egg. Chickens can also be considered a pet, me I picture myself with a cup of tea sitting outside near my garden with the hens roaming around. Like I would my dogs or cats, they will come up to you; kids can even pick them up
Factory farms have portrayed cruelty to animals in a way that is horrific; unfortunately the public often does not see what really goes on inside these “farms.” In order to understand the conditions present in these factory farms, it must first be examined what the animals in these factory farms are eating. Some of the ingredients commonly used in feeding the animals inside factory farms include the following: animal byproducts, plastic, drugs and chemicals, excessive grains, and meat from members of the same species. (Adams, 2007) These animals are tortured and used for purely slaughter in order to be fed on. Typically large numbers of animals are kept in closed and tight confinements, having only little room to move around, if even that. These confinements can lead to suffocation and death and is not rare. Evidence fr...