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In the U. S, approximately 300 million egglaying hens are confined in battery cages. These are small wire cages stacked in tiers and lined up in rows in huge warehouses. The USDA recommends giving each hen four inches of 'feeder space', which means the agency would advise packing 3 hens in a cage just 12 inches wide. The birds cannot stretch their wings or legs, and they cannot fulfill normal behavioral patterns or social needs. Constantly rubbing against the wire cages they suffer from severe feather loss, and their bodies are covered with bruises and abrasions.
Practically all laying hens have part of their beaks cut off in order to reduce injuries resulting from excessive pecking, (an aberrant behavior which occurs when the confined hens are bored and frustrated). Debeaking is a painful procedure which involves cutting through bone, cartilage, and soft tissue. Once they are debeaked they have difficulty drinking water.
Debeaking of a chicken
Laying about 300 eggs per year, the bodies of these hens are severely taxed. They suffer from "fatty liver syndrome" when their liver cells, which work overtime to
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produce the fat and protein for egg yolks, accumulate extra fat. They also suffer from what the industry calls 'cage layer fatigue', and many die of 'egg bound' when their bodies are too weak to pass another egg.
EGGS
After one year in egg production the birds are classified as 'spent hens' (hens that cannot lay anymore eggs). They are then sent off to slaughterhouses. They usually end up in soups, potpies, or similar lowgrade chicken meat products where their bodies can be shredded to hide the bruises from consumers. The hens' brittle, calciumdepleted bones often shatter during handling and/or at the slaughterhouse.
For every egg-laying hen confined in a battery cage there is a male chick that was killed at the hatchery. Because egg-laying chickens have been selected exclusively for maximum egg production they don't grow fast enough or large enough to be raised profitably for meat. Therefore, male chicks of egg-laying breeds are of no economic value. They are literally discarded on the day they hatch usually by the least expensive and most convenient means available. They may be thrown in trash cans where they are suffocated or crushed under the weight of others.
Newborn male chicks thrown in trash cans
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