Inside view of Modern Layer Facility

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Yes I noticed that right away and throughout. What they didn't tell you is that they only keep the hens to 2 years of age and by that time they are so worn out from the stress of all the hormones (to increase egg production) and the small confines etc. that they don't lay anymore or too infrequently to be of any use to them. I guess if you kept me locked up in the house all the time, fed me sterilized feed that was the same every day all day and used me without ever even letting me breathe fresh air, that I'd be less likely to get a disease as well but I'd die of stress or give-up on life at a very early age I'm sure (or I would certainly hope to)!

 

[NYREDS]

Quote:
Yes I noticed that right away and throughout. What they didn't tell you is that they only keep the hens to 2 years of age and by that time they are so worn out from the stress of all the hormones (to increase egg production) and the small confines etc. that they don't lay anymore or too infrequently to be of any use to them. I guess if you kept me locked up in the house all the time, fed me sterilized feed that was the same every day all day and used me without ever even letting me breathe fresh air, that I'd be less likely to get a disease as well but I'd die of stress or give-up on life at a very early age I'm sure (or I would certainly hope to)!

Chickens are not fed hormones to increase production. It's been illegal for over 40 years to feed chickens any hormones.
Yes, production farms do only keep hens through their peak production period. It would be foolish for them to keep 10 year old hens that rarely laid an egg.

 

[newchickmom09]

I don't know about the video, I know that my 7 hens can make a very big mess very quick. I think they cleaned everything up including the birds then made the video. I think that they are comming under some fire with the way they raise and treat the chickens. But in all reality I don't think most people care...they just know that they want to be able to go to the store and buy a carton of eggs and be done with that. If you really think about it, how else are they going to be able to control that many chickens and collect that many eggs at a time with out keeping them all confined. It is sad but that is just the way things are when there is such a demand from an animal. Also the retired hens can go to our dog food and cat food. So it isn't like they are just thrown away. I kind of look at it like they are a bunch of broiler chickens, you only raise them until they are 8-10 weeks old then you kill them for food. If you don't then it is kind of cruel to keep them alive because they just get to big to function.

I don't think that he should have been saying that they are healthier and they never get sick.

I bet that all of us agree that our chickens that are kept in a cage outside/free range/kept both ways basicaly anyway you take care of your chickens is better then what they get in a layer facility.

 

[cassie]

Something to think about. Factory chickens may not live an ideal life, but if you makes things economically impossible for eggs to be produced here, eggs will be imported from other countries like Mexico where producers will not be subject to the same regulations, health and otherwise. Conditions for the chickens will in all probablility be worse, and the quality of the eggs will be much worse. To think that border inspections of imports assure quality is wishful thinking.

 

[scbatz33]

It is possible to keep a facility like that clean. You actually have to clean it. Wire cages, cement floors, overhead sprinklers, etc help to aid in maintaining a clean facility. Ive seen plenty of facilities that are kept clean.

Where is it written that is you raise livestock, it has to look like a pig sty(my appologies to the pigs. As a matter of fact, pig facilities are just as clean, but the smell is a different story!) These animals are raised in a "factory". It is MASS production. Do you have to like it? No. Do you have to support it? No. But is it a vital part of our economy? Yes.

I personally thought the "free range" pens were a way worse scenario for the birds than the cages. At least in the cages, they are able to be out of the poo. Further, I think this video is a good illustration to those people out there who insist on "free range" or "cage free" eggs, to let the buyer beware. You're not getting anything like you think you're getting!!! And, you're paying more for it.

Also, he didn't say the birds are free of disease in a cage environment, he said it was easier to control and contain. And, that the birds' exoposure to diseases carried by wild birds/animals is greatly reduced, if not eliminated in an indoor environment.

Lastly, yes, those birds are hot. The swollen combs all flopped over and really red is a sign of being too warm.

No one HAS to buy factory produced eggs, but not everyone can afford to have their own flock. Heck, most folks DON"T WANT to have their own flock! Just because you or I wouldn't do that to our birds, doesn't make it wrong. These birds are raised for one purpose and one purpose only - to make eggs. If not for their ability to fulfill that purpose, they would never have been hatched. Sometimes it is what it is..........

 

[scooter147]

I have bachelor's degree and my minor is in agriculture. As part of that degree in my animal science classes I visited slaughter houses for the big 3 (cattle, hogs and chickens), mass production facilities that included: cattle feedlots, finishing houses for feeder pigs, egg production facilities (I don't call them henhouses), dairy farm with approx. 500 head of milk cows, farrowing house with approx. 300 sows.
I walked away from each and everyone of the facilities feeling "sorry" for the animals. All of these places bordered on cruel (maybe to strong of a word), they were all DIRTY, stunk to high heaven, the animals were all in overcrowded conditions and the bottom line was $$$$$$$$, so the animals were treated as "goods", like a can of corn and not a living creature.

I grew up on a "farm" in which we raised cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits and goats all for our immediate family and some extended family members. It was kind of out of a Norman Rockwell photo. We had the big red barn for the few cows and goats (the cows and goats had a 20 acre pasture) and and our equipment, one sow (that was bred from a borrowed boar) that raised a litter of piglets for butcher in the fall and she lived in a lean to on the side of the barn with a nice big pen to root and wallow in. After several litters a sow of hers was kepts and she was sent to slaughter. We had a brooder house for young poultry, henhouse for the hens and they free ranged we didn't even have a run for them, the geese and ducks free ranged and had 4 acre pond. The turkeys were butchered when big enough but dad usually liked to have a couple just running around the place and they kind of roosted where the wanted. The rabbits were raised in traditional rabbit hutches.

Now all that being said I am not one to sign a petition to shut these places down. Unfortunately if these animals were not "massed produced" we would have a greater hunger problem in this country and the world for that matter. I will take the comfort of a human over an animal any day.

I have always said if the majority of folks seen what I've seen they would turn vegitarian (at least for awhile anyway).

My thoughts on the subject.

 

[cluckcluck42]

All I can do is be glad my birds are happy, healthy and enjoy their lives to the fullest. My heart bleeds for all these factory farm animals

I hope more people start supporting local cruelty free farms instead. This is not right, and it shouldnt just be the norm and be accepted. How we allow animals to be treated is a direct reflection on us as a species.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Completely ignoring the whole-humane-or-not-humane issue with such a device, think about this:

A bunch of already overly warm chickens, sucked through a big hose, where, even if they were killed instantly, they are now piled up in a huge bin, which the body heat of the chickens alone keep warm for quite some time. Bear in mind that he roughness of such a device may well have ruptured internal organs, including intestines.

They are not cleaned. They are not gutted. They are not chilled. They are a huge bacterial incubator. The body temperature of a hen is about 99F. Imagine several hundred, or several thousand, 99F chicken corpses piled in a big bin.
So then these hot, dirty, piled up, dead chickens are then transported to the (soup?) factory, and how long before they are cleaned and chilled? Then processed into food for humans? Does that just make your mouth water?

Do you think it's possible that there were more reasons than just what you call "uninformed, knee-jerk radicalism" involved? Could it possibly be that for large corporations were actually held accountable for safe food handling practices? Radical idea, I know, but try to digest it anyway.

If this is a "good idea", in order to "advance Commercial Pursuits", then I'll stay ignorant and backward, thank you.

There are a lot of things big corporations would do to make more money, if they were allowed. Some of those things are bad news for consumers, and bad news for the planet. Speaking of The Planet, we only have the ONE, you know. I don't understand why anybody would think it's a bad idea to try and take care of it. We do live here, after all.