update.....

[Thortherooster]

Let’s just use our imaginations, just for a moment, so picture this; imaging standing all day long possibly and to make it even worse have metal wires as your ground, you can’t extended your arms, if you get stuck in any way you will end up dying just centimeters away from your water, all you hear is other people screaming of unhappiness, you see many people dead, you are hungry, it stinks so badly that your eyes burn, well, folks, welcome to the life of a battery hen. Just for the moment of imagination you have already felt some pain.
These eggs we need and I understand that, eggs are an important ingredient for cake, bread, cookies, donuts, scones, and many other fine treats. 300 million hens and 95% of them languish in cages in just the U.S. These hens live in cages so abusive that many countries have banned the use of them, but sadly the United States continues to use them. Each hen has the space of 67 square inches which is less than the space of a standard sheet of paper. A hen needs 72 square inches just to stand up. The hens are not provided with any nesting materials, and according to the book “Raising Chickens” the hens need a nesting material. When chickens get stressed they lose their feathers, so these chickens are close to bald so therefore it is easier to get an infection.
"I am battery hen. I live in a cage so small I cannot stretch my wings. I am forced to stand night and day on a sloping wire mesh floor that painfully cuts into my feet. The cage walls tear my feathers, forming blood blisters that never heal. The air is so full of ammonia that my lungs hurt and my eyes burn and I think I am going blind. As soon as I was born, a man grabbed me and sheared off part of my beak with a hot iron, and my little brothers were thrown into trash bags as useless alive.
My mind is alert and my body is sensitive and I should have been richly feathered. In nature or even a farmyard I would have had sociable, cleansing dust baths with my flock mates, a need so strong that I perform 'vacuum' dust bathing on the wire floor of my cage. Free, I would have ranged my ancestral jungles and fields with my mates, eating plants, earthworms, and insects from sunrise to dusk. I would have exercised my body and expressed my nature, and I would have given, and received, pleasure as a whole being. I am only a year old, but I am already a 'spent hen.'
Look for pieces of my wounded flesh wherever chicken pies and soups are sold."

 

[Serrin]

Ironically enough, I had just sat down with my number one baby, Gimpy (2+y.o. BO hen) in my lap when I read your discourse. I must say, it touched me deeply.

I am so very grateful every day that I am in a position to give my girls the very best life possible.

My meager little flock of 12 never wants for anything. They have acres and acres to roam free, scratching and pecking at anything that should pique their interest. Lots of goodies and treats, winter, spring, summer and fall. Every night they have a safe, clean, and secure coop to sleep in total peace and safety.

Yes, my girls lead a very privileged life...but then I know how privileged I am to have them in my life as well!

My father always said: "If you're going to keep animals, you have an obligation to give them the very best life possible. You can have as many animals as you like, so long as you always abide by that one rule." I've always done everything I can to live by that one rule.

Yes, we need poultry and egg farms in this world. I just don't believe they have to be so darn cruel about it. Would it really kill them to give an extra 20 square inches so that a hen could at least stand up and lay down? I think NOT!! I could really get very fired up about this subject. But, I'll cut myself short and let others sound off on it if they so choose.

 

[delawaregirl09]

You should try visiting one of the places you are speaking of. I am not here to argue you are wrong, because you half right. But, would you call me cruel because my chickens live in a dirt pen and only get bugs, grass, and treats when I pick it for them and give it to them? No. My birds have food, clean water, and a house to stay in. I have a blue heeler that stands at their cage door waiting for a teeny oppurtunity to reach in and tear one apart, and a pair of Red Tailed hawks that now live above their wire covered pen, and a raccon nesting nearby, and a whole lot of dang coyotes that would love to be able to dig under the dirt covered wire floor to eat my babies. At least these birds are out of the harsh weather. Not all birds can be free ranged, think about that. Before you bash something, try visiting and researching the area before you put your heart into fighting for something that may be un true. It's like the pitbull that was abused by its owner and it turned mean, and it attacked and killed someone and its litter mate was sweet as possible and was put down because it was a pit bull. You have to make sure you have the right story before you vocalize. Chickens are smart enough to do what they need to adapt. Of course, 5% of the operations out there are bad like you say, but the others are not.