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and even chicks sold to backyard chicken keepers, also
have their origins in these killing hatcheries. 4. Newborn chicks are more intelligent, alert, and aware
of their environment than human toddlers, according to recent scientific studies. In fact, many traits that were previously thought to be exclusive to human / primate communication, cognition and social behavior have now
been discovered in chickens. 5. Female chicks are sent to egg farms, where, due to decades
of genetic manipulation and selective breeding, they produce 250 to 300 eggs per year. In nature, wild hens lay only 10 to 15 eggs annually. Like all birds, they lay eggs only during breeding season and only for the purpose of
reproducing 6. This unnaturally high rate of egg-laying results in frequent
disease and mortality. 7. 95% of all egg-laying hens in the U.S. – nearly 300 million
birds – spend their lives in battery cages so small they cannot even stretch their wings. Packed in at 5–10 birds per cage, they can only stand or crouch on the cages' hard wires, which cut their feet painfully. In these maddening conditions, hens will peck one another from stress, causing
injury and even death. 8. Rather than give them more room, farmers cut off a portion
of their sensitive beaks without painkiller. A chicken's beak is loaded with nerve endings, more sensitive than a human
fingertip. Many birds die of shock on the spot. 9. Most hens on “cage-free” or “free range” operations are
also debeaked, as these labels allow producers to confine
thousands of birds inside crowded sheds. 10. In a natural environment, chickens can live 10 to 15 years,
but chickens bred for egg-laying are slaughtered, gassed or even thrown live onto “dead piles” at just 12 to 18 months of age when their egg production declines.
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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