What Do Hatcheries do With There Extra chicks that havent been sold?

[Fred's Hens]

Simple fact of life in a world that has 6 billion mouths to feed. The US egg industry uses 10's of millions of pullets every year. The corresponding rooster hatched for all those 10's of millions of pullet chicks are destroyed. On a world wide level, I would not be surprised if the number is hundreds of millions. There simply is zero market demand for hundreds of millions of roosters hatched. They aren't meat birds.

Until there is a way to set only female embryos, (but at what cost?) this practice will continue. I am reasonably sure that the male hatchlings are ground up so quickly it is about as humane as possible. It is what it is.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Think about it:

"Grinding alive" sounds horrible, but any sharp blow will kill a chick instantly. A very sharp fast blow from the very first blade it encounters will kill it immediately.

"Fast" is the requirement for a humane killing. Those chicks are dying immediately.

There is a specialized tool for breaking necks and a lot of hatcheries use that tool. It wouldn't be any quicker, though.

Opting out of the system isn't going to stop it. Too many families are struggling to stretch their money to barely meet their living expenses. Rent, gasoline, everything going up and they still need to feed their kids. They can't stretch the budget to pay $10 a pound for chicken and $6 a dozen for eggs.

If an individual doesn't like the system, they can become vegan. Or else do what many of us do and raise our own meat and eggs with loving care and comfortable living conditions. But that doesn't make so much as a dimple in the surface of commercial farming.

By the way, I've never been in any commercial farm: chickens, pigs, dairy, beef cattle, where the animals were abused, or looked unhealthy. I'm sure there are the occasional exceptiosn, but the farmers must take good care of their livestock or they can't make a living.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

Quote:
I've not heard of any legislation forcing vegetarianism.
However, if it were to take hold on a much larger scale don't you think people would stop breeding animals for human consumption as demand dwindled? Would all of the surplus animals you imagine being slaughtered even exist? You sound like the demand would completely stop one day and aniamals would be slaughtered the next.
For the record, I believe animals should be treated humanely , does that make me a "humaniac"?

 

[colby318]

Quote:

 

[cielo]

Quote:
Sounds like the roosters have it better than the hens! Oh wait, I forgot, hens don't live in cages or huge climate controlled buildings. They all live on green grassy hills with red barns next to grain silos in the background. I'm pretty sure the sun is always shining too and it never rains, the grass just stays green, and there are no predators and... I digress.

It's a slippery slope to assign judgement to the poultry industry as there is no answer or solution.
All "products" in this world have a living cost, seen or unseen.

Wanna feel your head explode?! It's fun! Kinda...

Try to trace ALL the inputs back that led to that chicken scratching in your yard. The ingredients, manufacturing and transport of the food, the fuel used to get that chick from egg to you, to feed and house the parents, the water from the tap or hose, the electricity for the hatchery the store the brooder, the box it came in, the manufacture of the containers it eats and drinks out of, the materials used in the construction of the nest boxes, run, coop, the wood, plastic and wire. Where did all those things come from? How did they get to and fro? How were they made? From what substances? Where did those come from? How were they grown, found, isolated, harvested, refined, constructed, packaged, transported, formed, stored? What happens to all the by-products of these processes? What about the computer or phone used to order those chicks? What do you do to get the money to buy these things? What goes into you so that you can work?
Our world is full of life from the soil to the skies, the micro to the macro, and it is also full of death. I don't believe there is anything or anyone excluded from this process of creation and destruction, It's a cycle.

We all do what we can with what we got as does every other living thing. That's life.
I don't think it can be argued that the critters with owners on BYC are some of the luckiest around though!

-Cielo

 

[LostMindPleaseFind]

I'm soooo sorry but I read the original post and started laughing, I was in tears even.....then I read this post and started laughing all over again!

I didn't realize it was a joke, I guess it just shows how really twisted my humor is!

Quote:
From : http://www.9lives.com/productDetail.aspx?id=60

Tender Nibbles with Real Chicken in Gravy

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein Min 8.0 %
Crude Fat Min 2.5 %
Crude Fiber Max 1.0 %
Moisture Max 82.0 %
Ash Max 3.0 %
Taurine Min 0.05 %

INGREDIENTS: Water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, unsold hatchery chicks, fish, wheat flour, soy protein concentrate, modified starch, steamed bone meal, animal digest, guar gum, titanium dioxide, sodium tripolyphosphate, potassium chloride, caramel color, choline chloride, salt, taurine, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), minerals (ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), iron oxide
​

*Sigh*, look at the link folks- it was an attempt at humor, not fact.

 

[Nupe]

Even if they're tasty?

 

[jtn42248]

Simply, no animal should be killed for food, or have their babies ground alive or suffocated in plastic bags. PLEASE, DO NOT BUY FROM HATCHERIES OR BUY STORE EGGS.

So if no one bought from hatcheries to have their own chickens that laid eggs for their family the only eggs available would be the ones in the store that were produced by battery farms that treat chickens like they are less than dirt. Conundrum!!!

I don't like the cycle of life any more than the greenest of tree huggers. But I am a part of it and will do my best to make it a little easier/better for me, my friends and family and those animals (four legged, winged, with fins, etc) that are a part of my piece of that cycle. If you are really that worried about your Karma just think your entire daily existence through with 100% honesty and see how long it takes for your head to explode.

 

[Beer can]

Hmm, what I found even more disturbing was the bumper stickers on a car, there was support PETA, support animal rights, go vegan, and support woman's rights, support abortion. And of course it was a few years ago there was also get rid of Bush, vote for 'change' Obama stickers also.

 

[laurapaladino8]

I am sure they have the same fate as they chicks that are purchased, just sooner rather than later. I don't mean to sound cold but my chickens have a good life. They are cared for and have a much better life with me than they would on some commercial farm. But the reality of it is just this, They are here to serve a purpose and when that purpose is done they will become soup.