Slide show about laying hens and chicks for fattening
Subject
Description
When chicks hatch in a hatchery they are transported, depending on their race and sex, to either a farm where they are fattened up or where they will lay eggs. The roosters are 'useless' and are killed in a bag with carbon monoxide or shredded.
Slide show: The story to the right about laying hens is told in separate files with photographs and text. After 30 seconds the show continues or you can pause the series.
The chickens which are destined to lay eggs and which are transported to an enriched cage, end up in a shed filled with long rows of cages. As a consequence of the distressful situation, the animals peck each other. For this reason, their beaks are burnt off, without anaesthesia. An unnatural day-night-rhythm is imposed on the hens to make them lay as many eggs as possible. Chickens in battery cages live for about a year; by then they have laid approximately 300 eggs and are good for nothing but soup.
Poussins live for about six to eight weeks, after which they are slaughtered. During this short period they grow super-fast, with the use of special food, from chick to half-grown chickens. Were they to live any longer under these circumstances, they would become too heavy and literally grow to their deaths.
For transport to the slaughterhouse they are forcefully squeezed into crates, which may lead to fractured wings and legs. Under these stressful circumstances they are transported to the slaughterhouse in (half-open) trucks.
To prevent further fractured bones and bleeding, many slaughterhouses use a lower voltage to stun the animals than is required by law.
The meat of these poussins is sold as chicken: this is deceiving and a sign of animal abuse. The proportion of the number of animals that is kept in the Netherlands and the number of animals consumed in our countries (through export) lacks all proportion.
The short lives of Anja, Manja and Tanja
Thirty-eight days after Anja, Manja and Tanja have hatched from their eggs as golden chicks an automatic knife cuts their throats. They have by then been fattened up to weigh two kilos and have never seen the light of day. They will end up as fillets on supermarket shelves. Gerard van Westerloo followed Anja, Manja and Tanja throughout the Dutch chicken processing industry.
From farm, via fattening industry and slaughterhouse to meat-processing and packing industry.