It Sucks Being a Chick!

Warning:
Some of you may not want to watch the last two videos!

The first video shows the birth process of a chicken, very cute!


This next video goes a bit deeper into the reality of this multi-billion dollar industry.


And finally we have the grim reality of a processing plant.
What do they do with what's left over, you ask? Nothing! It all goes to animal rendering plants.

Thrown, dropped, mutilated, and ground-up alive. This is the disturbing reality faced by hundreds of thousands of chicks each day at the world's largest egg-laying breed hatchery Hy-Line International in Spencer, Iowa.

New hidden camera footage obtained at this facility during a MercyForAnimals undercover investigation gives a disturbing glimpse into the cruel and industrialized reality of modern hatcheries.

The warm, comforting, and protective wings of these newly hatched chicks' mothers have been replaced with massive machines, quickly moving conveyor belts, harsh handling, and distressing noise. These young animals are sorted, discarded, and handled like mere cogs in a machine.

For the nearly 150,000 male chicks who hatch every 24 hours at this Hy-Line facility, their lives begin and end the same day. Grabbed by their fragile wings by workers known as "sexers," who separate males from females, these young animals are callously thrown into chutes and hauled away to their deaths. They are destined to die on day one because they cannot produce eggs and do not grow large or fast enough to be raised profitably for meat. Their lives are cut short when they are dropped into a grinding machine tossed around by a spinning auger before being torn to pieces by a high-pressure macerator.

Over 21 million male chicks meet their fate this way each year at this facility.

For the surviving females, this is the beginning of a life of cruelty and confinement at the hands of the egg industry. Before even leaving the hatchery they will be snapped by their heads into a spinning debeaker a portion of their sensitive beaks removed by a laser. Workers toss and rummage through them before they are placed 100 per crowded box and shipped across the country.

The callous disregard for animal welfare at this facility is not isolated. In fact, the conditions documented during this investigation are completely standard and acceptable within the commercial egg industry. Referred to by Hy-Line corporate leaders as mere "genetic products," these chicks are treated just as they are viewed as inanimate objects, rather than the sentient creatures they are.

Driven by consumer demand, the egg industry will continue to exploit, abuse, and kill day-old animals as long as doing so remains profitable. Empowered consumers can put their ethics on the table by choosing kindness over cruelty at each meal by adopting an animal-friendly vegan diet.

Inside Ohio's Largest Egg Factory Farm
© 2014 YouTube, LLC

Ethical Consumerism, is this the debate here?

I love chicken, my kids love chicken, most everybody has at one point in time eaten an egg, whether they knew about it or not. Now just to make myself clear on this issue, humans eat meat. You can be vegan, not-vegan or one of the others:

There are a number of types of vegetarianism, which exclude or include various foods.

Ovo vegetarianism - includes eggs but not dairy products.
Lacto vegetarianism - includes dairy products but not eggs.
Ovo-lacto vegetarianism (or lacto-ovo vegetarianism) - includes animal/dairy products such as eggs, milk, and honey.
Veganism - excludes all animal flesh and products, such as milk, honey, and eggs, as well as items refined or manufactured through any such product, such as bone-char refined white sugar or animal-tested baking soda.
Raw veganism - includes only fresh and uncooked fruit, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. Vegetables can only be cooked up to a certain temperature.
Fruitarianism - permits only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant.
Sattvic diet (also known as yogic diet) - a plant based diet which may also include dairy (not eggs) and honey, but excludes anything from the onion or leek family, red lentils, durian fruit, mushrooms, blue cheeses, fermented foods or sauces, alcoholic drinks and often also excludes coffee, black or green tea, chocolate, nutmeg or any other type of stimulant such as excess sharp spices.
Buddhist vegetarianism - Different Buddhist traditions have differing teachings on diet, which may also vary for ordained monks and nuns compared to others. Many interpret the precept 'not to kill' to require abstinence from meat, but not all. In Taiwan, su vegetarianism excludes not only all animal products but also vegetables in the allium family (which have the characteristic aroma of onion and garlic): onion, garlic, scallions, leeks, chives, or shallots.
Jain vegetarianism - includes dairy but excludes eggs and honey, as well as root vegetables.
Macrobiotic diets - consist mostly of whole grains and beans.
Wiki Link

People are still going to eat meat and there are a lot of us to feed.
These practices are very dramatic and in some cases heartbreaking to watch, but what is the alternative? I spared some, on this thread, the slaughtering techniques of rabbits, cows(veal), horses, pigs because I felt the use of these cute little chicks would make the point all by themselves.
I am an omnivore, I eat everything, it doesn't bother me in the least to do so. I have slaughtered chickens, rabbits and pigs in Italy when I was younger. There was no other alternative there at the time and though it does bother me, it was only for a moment.
I could never understand the disassociation some have over fish with this type of thought. People tend to get very upset at cows being killed but not so much for large sea creatures or tuna. Isn't it the same?

Well, I hope this gets noticed because my heart goes out to those little chicks.
Hopefully all those stories about aliens coming to earth to harvest humans for food is just in the minds of sci-fi fiction writers. I would hate to be sliding down a conveyor to my death(especially because if it does happen, Pink Floyd will be playing in my head)!

The First Picture is Awesome!
Information Acknowledged.

Star Given.

a reply to: AnteBellum

That's why I eat Steak, and Burgers and Beef, and cheese, and yogurts and I love to drink Milk and Ice Cream for Dessert. What Animals do all those things come from? Whatever animals those are, I love them

Regarding the clipping of beaks, if their beaks are not clipped...
The chickens end up pecking each other to a bloody pulp, sometimes to death.

I didn't watch the vids because I knew they would be upsetting. True, we consume meat, but there are humane ways of doing things and there are cruel ways.

a reply to: AnteBellum

Hi AnteBellum!
I abhor the entire 'food chain' mentality.
I hate that anything alive must die for something else to live.

Pretty much why my diet consists mostly of coffee, cigarettes and tic-tacs.

Like Night Star, I can't watch the videos. I was invited to a pig roast once, and cried when I saw the poor pig.
I just don't belong here.

jacygirl

This is exactly why we raise our own. They are well treated all the way up until their deaths. Growing up, we did the same. I learned the harsh reality of eating meat, yet the responsibility of care for those creatures providing you with sustenance.

More kids should learn this. And more big industry should learn proper care of ALL animals raised for food.

a reply to: jacygirl

Pretty much why my diet consists mostly of coffee, cigarettes and tic-tacs.

Sounds like my diet also, except include Coke. I eat meat to give myself a protein push, but it's usually always beef. I don't really like chicken at all, except KFC which I refuse to eat!
I've considered doing what my mom does by supplementing nuts and beans for protein but it's hard to make the complete switch when you love hamburgers like I do. Not to be confused with what they serve at McD's, Wendy's or Burger King - that isn't even food by my definition.

a reply to: AnteBellum

You are 100% right. We eat meat (or choose not to) but we don't have to do it by creating more suffering, like "chicks" or other animals aren't even alive, able to feel pain, etc. The "industrialization" process separates us so much from the live animal, it's easy to not pay attention to HOW the meat comes to the table. People will say - well, that's what makes meat so cheap! I say "processing" our food that way cheapens us...AND, lowers the quality of life for us humans physically too. We need better, higher quality, humanely birthed/raised/handled food - AND we need better wages to pay for it...

Great thread!

- AB

originally posted by: AboveBoard
a reply to: AnteBellum

You are 100% right. We eat meat (or choose not to) but we don't have to do it by creating more suffering, like "chicks" or other animals aren't even alive, able to feel pain, etc. The "industrialization" process separates us so much from the live animal, it's easy to not pay attention to HOW the meat comes to the table. People will say - well, that's what makes meat so cheap! I say "processing" our food that way cheapens us...AND, lowers the quality of life for us humans physically too. We need better, higher quality, humanely birthed/raised/handled food - AND we need better wages to pay for it...

Great thread!

- AB

Feel free to start a company that does all that. I'd be interested to see if you start cutting corners when the niceties get in the way of profit.

a reply to: AnteBellum

I am likely protein-deficient a lot of the time.
If you want a great burger, and have A&W where you live...you should try one of their veggie burgers! They are very mushroomy-tasting....I've got a lot of meat-eaters hooked on them, lol. (best veggie burgers EVER!)

jacygirl

a reply to: PsychoEmperor

I'm not cut out for that industry! But I support those who farm this way by my $$. That's the best I can do.

Look, everyone needs to support their families - everyone needs to try and make a good life for themselves and those they love - no question! I would like to see the industry change, and the ONLY way that's going to happen is when people decide they don't want their food tortured first.

When people start buying humanely raised meats/eggs/etc., the industry will change - the problem is, as always, affordability. Just like organic food/veggies, however, the more people demand them, the more the industry will want to make money from those customers, and the more competition/lowering of prices we will see... Well, that's what I'm hoping anyway! It would also help if humanely raised food was subsidized like other foods at a rate that made it more affordable...

peace,
AB

a reply to: PsychoEmperor

See, that's the thing, you don't have to start a business to do that. The fellow I get my cow from, he has X amount of people, that buy the steers young, we all split the cost of feed, pay a bit extra for him doing all the work, then the butcher fee at the end. He raises them kindly, without hormones or antibiotics.
There are actually lots of farmers that do this, that farm the land as well, so it isn't a big expense for any of us. That is what more people need to look for, to help put the "industrial" meat farms out of business.


The only problem now is, the government doesn't like this arrangement, because they are not benefiting, so they are going to try to stop this.

a reply to: AnteBellum

Eating eggs as I type.
MMMMMMM

Eggs have good protein...might suck being a "chick" but the benefits to man are awesome.
I don't do PETA hippie diets or whatever you are going for here.

Why is this in the cooking forum if you didn't give a recipe?

a reply to: chiefsmom

The only problem now is, the government doesn't like this arrangement, because they are not benefiting, so they are going to try to stop this.

I remember hearing about the new farm laws as related to growing food in a small garden being illegal, so it would be an easy assumption they could ban this practice also. I wonder if these laws can be circumvented by the 'Kosher Butchery' example? They have the right to kill in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs. So in the name of religion you can butcher animals by right.
I'd have to look at the details of this. . .

originally posted by: DrumsRfun
a reply to: AnteBellum

Eating eggs as I type.
MMMMMMM

Eggs have good protein...might suck being a "chick" but the benefits to man are awesome.
I don't do PETA hippie diets or whatever you are going for here.

Why is this in the cooking forum if you didn't give a recipe?

Did someone say, "PETA hippie"?
*raises hand* "Present!"

You want a recipe? Okay: Place in blender ice cubes, banana, almond milk, berries, some coconut...blend until smooth. Pour into large glass. Sip and enjoy.
No harm, no FOWL!

jacygirl

a reply to: jacygirl

That actually sounds pretty good and I might have to try that.

I prefer my blender to get 4 raw eggs,some milk,vanilla and cinnamon and than I call it a protein eggnog shake.

MMMMMM I just finished eggs and BACON.....great breakfast.
No homefries or taters...my muscles need protein not carbs.

I love chicken.
It's delicious. I'm lactose intolerant like a regular human, but beef is good too.
If you buy the right stuff it won't be processed like this at all. I get my meats from a local butcher shop, and everything is free range.
You can even take the kids out back to meet the chicken before he becomes dinner.

There is nothing wrong with eating meat, but I don't support the mass culling of the chicken population.

a reply to: DrumsRfun

Fruit smoothies are great, you can get really creative!
I can't say anything about your BACON and eggs, lol...there are threads here dedicated to bacon...I'd likely be tarred and feathered....ohhhh....feathers.....darn it, back to the chicken and egg again, lol!!

jacygirl

I won't watch the video. I know what happens in these places. When I watch a video like that, I get depressed for a long time. It doesn't effect my eating meat that much though, I try to buy meat that hasn't been tortured. Do research on the companies often to see how the animals are grown. Buy local if possible, know the farmer.