ISA Brown?

[GodLovesU]

I’ll keep you guys updated, but she doesn’t seem to be too bad if she was, in fact, a battery hen. Thank for all the help!

 

[NatJ]

I have a question,
WHY IN THE WORLD DO THOSE MONSTERS DEBEAK THEIR HENS ANYWAY????

Because otherwise they peck each other to death. Yes, literally to death. Dead hens do not lay eggs, so this is a problem for a commercial egg producer.

Debeaking is the cheapest way to "solve" the problem. If the end of the beak is cut off so it is not sharp, it cannot do as much damage. And if the top and bottom of the beak do not meet properly, the hen cannot get those tasty bites of blood and flesh that will encourage her to keep picking

The main other way to avoid picking issues is to give the hens more space. But it often needs to be a LOT more space, like four times as much, or even more than that. This gets expensive very quickly when someone is dealing with thousands of hens. If the eggs cost four times as much to produce, most customers will go buy some cheaper eggs (from whoever is still squeezing larger numbers of debeaked hens into smaller housing.)

Egg producers are not trying to make hens miserable, but they are not trying to make hens happy either. They are trying to produce eggs at a price people are willing to pay. This means they want to keep the hens alive and laying without spending any more money than they must. Debeaking is one thing that can help them achieve the goal of producing eggs that are not too expensive.

(Note, I am not trying to promote debeaking, just trying to answer the "why" part of your question.)

 

[talkinboutchickens]

It's hard to tell the exact red sexlink hybrid, as the feathering doesn't follow a general "look" for each red sexlink hybrid. For example an ISA can have all brown feathers with a tiny bit of white, or perhaps brown with a lot of white feathers. It varies greatly since they're hybrids, and since ISA's consist of both a red feathered breed and white feathered breeds, they may have more of either color show up. If that makes sense..
Examples of ISA browns with different plumage color variations:

**you do have to be wary of the results the internet gives you when you look up a breed though. They may be totally wrong. For example I've seen a cover image of a barred rock for an article titled "barnevelders." How ridiculous. So they may not give you the correct red sexlink hybrid when you do a search.

Because otherwise they peck each other to death. Yes, literally to death. Dead hens do not lay eggs, so this is a problem for a commercial egg producer.

Debeaking is the cheapest way to "solve" the problem. If the end of the beak is cut off so it is not sharp, it cannot do as much damage. And if the top and bottom of the beak do not meet properly, the hen cannot get those tasty bites of blood and flesh that will encourage her to keep picking

The main other way to avoid picking issues is to give the hens more space. But it often needs to be a LOT more space, like four times as much, or even more than that. This gets expensive very quickly when someone is dealing with thousands of hens. If the eggs cost four times as much to produce, most customers will go buy some cheaper eggs (from whoever is still squeezing larger numbers of debeaked hens into smaller housing.)

Egg producers are not trying to make hens miserable, but they are not trying to make hens happy either. They are trying to produce eggs at a price people are willing to pay. This means they want to keep the hens alive and laying without spending any more money than they must. Debeaking is one thing that can help them achieve the goal of producing eggs that are not too expensive.

(Note, I am not trying to promote debeaking, just trying to answer the "why" part of your question.)

The perfect explanation.

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

Because otherwise they peck each other to death. Yes, literally to death. Dead hens do not lay eggs, so this is a problem for a commercial egg producer.

Debeaking is the cheapest way to "solve" the problem. If the end of the beak is cut off so it is not sharp, it cannot do as much damage. And if the top and bottom of the beak do not meet properly, the hen cannot get those tasty bites of blood and flesh that will encourage her to keep picking

The main other way to avoid picking issues is to give the hens more space. But it often needs to be a LOT more space, like four times as much, or even more than that. This gets expensive very quickly when someone is dealing with thousands of hens. If the eggs cost four times as much to produce, most customers will go buy some cheaper eggs (from whoever is still squeezing larger numbers of debeaked hens into smaller housing.)

Egg producers are not trying to make hens miserable, but they are not trying to make hens happy either. They are trying to produce eggs at a price people are willing to pay. This means they want to keep the hens alive and laying without spending any more money than they must. Debeaking is one thing that can help them achieve the goal of producing eggs that are not too expensive.

(Note, I am not trying to promote debeaking, just trying to answer the "why" part of your question.)

Wow, I guess that makes sense.
I’ve often wondered if the “cage free” life is any better at all… seems like it’s not.

 

[NatJ]

Wow, I guess that makes sense.
I’ve often wondered if the “cage free” life is any better at all… seems like it’s not.

My understanding is that cages can work really well, if the only goal is to keep the largest number of hens alive and laying inside a given size of building.

Obviously the cages have to be designed properly for this to work. Poorly designed cages may not keep the hens alive, or might keep them alive but not able to lay.

Equally obviously, cages do not make the hens particularly happy. But over-crowded "cage free" hens are not particularly happy either, and have more opportunities to get hurt and to injure or kill each other. They admittedly do have more opportunities to do things like stretch their wings (possible in a crowded cage-free situation, impossible in a small cage.)

Trying to provide "free range" for a large number of chickens will quickly kill all the plants in a small area. Giving them a large area is very expensive due to land cost, fencing cost, and so forth. Any size range will expose the hens to hot weather, cold weather, rain, maybe snow, and of course predators. The bigger the range, the harder it is to keep the predators out.

I don't see any really good solutions, if everyone keeps wanting access to large numbers of cheap eggs.

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

My understanding is that cages can work really well, if the only goal is to keep the largest number of hens alive and laying inside a given size of building.

Obviously the cages have to be designed properly for this to work. Poorly designed cages may not keep the hens alive, or might keep them alive but not able to lay.

Equally obviously, cages do not make the hens particularly happy. But over-crowded "cage free" hens are not particularly happy either, and have more opportunities to get hurt and to injure or kill each other. They admittedly do have more opportunities to do things like stretch their wings (possible in a crowded cage-free situation, impossible in a small cage.)

Trying to provide "free range" for a large number of chickens will quickly kill all the plants in a small area. Giving them a large area is very expensive due to land cost, fencing cost, and so forth. Any size range will expose the hens to hot weather, cold weather, rain, maybe snow, and of course predators. The bigger the range, the harder it is to keep the predators out.

I don't see any really good solutions, if everyone keeps wanting access to large numbers of cheap eggs.

Yeah, it’s so sad.
Even me, before I had chickens of my own, didn’t even think about it as I cracked each egg.
Now, you’d be amazed at how many people in our area are willing, thrilled even, to pay 5 and even $6 a dozen, just to know where they come from!