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What's
wrong with chicken meat?
“Describing a
broiler shed, The Poultry Digest 1998 quotes from the findings of a Melbourne
University report "to enter a chicken shed is to enter an atmosphere
full of contaminants: dust, gases, micro-organisms, chemicals".
More than 470 million
chickens are slaughtered for their meat in Australia each year (Australian
Chicken Meat Federation estimate for 2006/2007).
Tasmania raises and slaughters
6 million broiler chickens (meat chickens) per year (Australian
Bureau of Statistics).
It was estimated that
on average Australians eat 39.2kg of poultry per person a year (The
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE)).
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Broiler chickens at 6
weeks (ALNSW) |
Life
in a broiler shed
Broiler chickens (or meat chickens)
in commercial farms are commonly raised in very crowded conditions, with
between 10,000 – 20,000 birds per shed. Commercial meat chicken
farms are ‘intensive, highly mechanised units that occupy relatively
small areas compared with conventional farming’ (Poultry Hub).
Industry Codes of Practice
allow for the stocking density in the sheds to be 20 birds or 40kg per
square metre (Primary Industries Standing Committee Model Code of Practice
for the Welfare of Animals Domestic Poultry 4th Edition http://www.publish.csiro.au/books/download.cfm?ID=345).
Towards the end of their lives, the birds may be living in a space equivalent
to 500cm sq or less than an A4 sheet of paper.
Although the chickens are not
kept in cages, they do not have access to the outside world or natural
lighting. The artificial lighting used is dimmed to keep the chickens
as inactive as possible, thus reducing their food intake and minimising
the likelihood of pecking and fighting amongst the chickens; behaviour
which results from overcrowding and the sheer boredom experienced by the
animals.
A typical Australian
broiler shed (Image courtesy of ALNSW) |
Due to
the nature of the production system, birds are kept in the one shed
for the entirety of their very short 5 – 7 week life. During
this time, the birds’ droppings are left to accumulate on
the floor. As the chickens grow, the amount of ammonia in the air
may increase. As the air becomes more polluted, dust, bacteria and
fungal spores can become a health problem for both the birds and
humans working in the sheds.
Industry claims that
feed and water are made available to chickens 24 hours a day, but
due to a number of health problems experienced by the chickens as
a result of their accelerated growth rate, and the sheer number
of chickens in the shed, not all of the animals are able to access
the food and water |
Growth
rate acceleration
The life expectancy of the
average broiler hen is about eight weeks, after which it is slaughtered
for human consumption. The life span of an unconfined chicken can be up
to 10 years in ideal conditions. When broiler hen farming first began
in about the 1950’s, it took the chicken 96 days to grow to slaughter
weight (approximately 2 kilos). As a result of a combination of genetic
selection, the feeding of high protein diets and the use of antibiotic
growth promoters added to feed; the modern broiler hen reaches ideal slaughter
weight in just 37 days.
Broiler
chicken and a layer hen of same age of 6 weeks in comparative feeding
trial (Australian Chicken Meat Federation). |
Such accelerated
growth rates cause a number of problems for the chickens. Because
their bodies grow so large so quickly, birds are prone to bone deformities,
joint problems and heart failure.
Professor Donald Bloom
from Cambridge University described the modern day broiler chicken
as “rather like a child who is nine-years-old in weight having
to stand on the legs of, say, a five-year-old”.
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Crippled
Hens
A combination of accelerated
growth rates and crowded living conditions often results in large numbers
of birds dying prematurely. So great is the weight of their bodies, many
chickens suffer from extreme leg and joint deformities, rendering them
crippled. These birds are unable to access feed and water and die a slow
death.
As a result
of its accelerated growth rate,
this chicken is unable to stand (East Bay Animal Advocates) |
For the
majority of birds, the pressure of their fast growing bodies cannot
be supported by their legs, so they are forced to spend much of
their time crouching on the ground with their large breast resting
on the shed floor.
Continued contact with
the floor of the shed can lead to painful ulceration of the skin
known as ‘breast blister’. Commonly, birds are unable
to stand up or walk properly due to the size of their bodies. They
are forced to hobble around in the damp litter which is often ammonia-soaked.
This may result in a painful condition called ‘hockburn’.
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Slaughter
Broiler chickens are denied
food and water for up to 12 hours before they are caught and transported
to slaughter. The birds are caught at night by catchers who walk through
the sheds, grabbing the birds by one leg and carrying them in bunches
of up to five birds in one hand. The birds are then crammed into crates
and the crates are stacked onto trucks.
Once the
chickens are unloaded at the slaughterhouse they are shackled to
a conveyor belt which carries them down the processing line. They
are carried along the line to an electrically charged water bath,
which is meant to stun the birds before their throats are cut by
an automatic knife. Unfortunately, some birds lift their heads and
miss being stunned and go on to have their throats cut while they
are still alive.
“Chickens are taken
directly from the growing farms to the processing plant where they
are unloaded from their transport crates or modules, slaughtered,
plucked, cleaned, cooled and graded. They are then either packaged
and frozen or chilled, or processed further into various products
prior to packaging and sale to distributors” (Australian Chicken
Meat Federation http://www.chicken.org.au/page.php?id=7).
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Chickens
shackled to a conveyor belt before being stunned. (Photo courtesy
of Down the Lane) |
What
Can You Do?
• Please think carefully
before you buy. Your decisions at the supermarket directly affect the
lives of animals.
• Tell your friends about how meat chickens are raised and encourage
them to make ethical purchases.
• Write to the manager of your local supermarket and let them know
that you will not be buying intensively farmed chicken meat.
• Consider changing to a plant-based diet. For more information
about a vegan or vegetarian diet, visit the AACT website www.AACT.org.au
For more information
on the cruelty of broiler chicken farming see the Animal
Liberation NSW website.
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