THL
There is an incredible diversity of breeds, each with varying plumage and dispositions.
The word “chicken” has become synonymous with food: chicken nuggets, chicken breasts, chicken wings. But behind the catch-all name is a bird with an incredible diversity of breeds, each with varying plumage and dispositions.
Today, only a few breeds are used on factory farms, where hundreds of thousands of individuals are born and bred into a life of constraint and exploitation. Even so-called “free-range” living situations give rise to welfare concerns.
Before exploring what life is like for chickens on factory farms, let’s begin by looking at just how many breeds of chickens there are around the world.
How Many Breeds of Chicken Are There?
While it may seem to be a simple enough question, the reality is that the number of chicken breeds is unknown. Hundreds of species exist, including bantam breeds, which are generally smaller versions of chicken breeds. The American Poultry Association recognizes hundreds of large chicken breeds commonly found within the country, whereas the American Bantam Association maintains a list of bantam breeds of chickens. Other standards such as the British Poultry Standard and Australian Poultry Standard recognize breeds within their respective countries as well. The standards established by these countries ensure the preservation of the genetic integrity of “true” breeds.
Beyond these standards, however, there exist many other varieties bred by backyard or subsistence farmers around the world. The breed lists maintained by the above-mentioned organizations are frequently updated to incorporate more breeds that may be common in other countries but are only making their way to the UK, US, or Australia more recently.
What Are the Different Breeds of Chickens?
Chickens are selectively bred in order to amplify certain characteristics deemed desirable for human use. Chickens are commonly raised for their meat, eggs, or companionship when kept as pets. Some breeds grow quickly while eating relatively small amounts of food, making their flesh more cost-effective for farmers. Other breeds produce more eggs or larger eggs. Still, others are especially suited to confinement and take well to human relationships, making them better suited as pets.
The type of chicken raised for meat within North American factory farms is a hybrid between Cornish hens and Plymouth Rocks. These hybrids are selectively bred for their abilities to produce larger pectoral muscles, or white breast meat, which is popular among consumers. With white feathers and red wattles, these birds are the kind seen in cartoonish advertisements for popular chicken restaurants.
Hybrid White Leghorns are the layer hens commonly seen in factory farms. These chickens can lay up to 300 eggs in their first year, which is often the bird’s lifespan within industrial contexts (though in the wild chickens can live for a decade or more). Foghorn Leghorn, the Looney Tunes character, is reminiscent of this breed.
For other types of recognized breeds, see these lists:
American Bantam Association’s recognized breed and variety list The American Poultry Association’s accepted breeds and varieties list
At What Age Do Chickens Start Breeding?
Young laying hens are called pullets, a name that represents a phase of life that usually lasts from weeks to months depending on the breed and living conditions. In backyard conditions, hens can begin laying eggs at about 18 weeks old, whereas some sources say that laying hens within industrial conditions begin laying at around 20 to 21 weeks of age.
How Farmed Chickens Are Raised
Chickens have been domesticated by people for thousands of years and are farmed in virtually every country around the world. In the US in particular, virtually every farmed chicken is born and raised on a factory farm, so this type of farming method will be the focus of this section.
Broiler Chickens
"Broiler chickens" is an industry term for chickens who are bred and raised for meat. In the wild, mother hens hatch and care for their chicks, protecting them from dangers. In factory farms, broiler chicks receive very different treatment, because most chicks never get to see their parents. Instead, they are hatched in large indoor sheds along with thousands of other eggs—a far cry from the handful of brothers and sisters they would normally grow up with. Soon after birth, chicks are given vaccines and sometimes debeaked—a process that removes portions of the beak, often using a hot blade and without anesthetic.
Chicks are then packed into crates the size of desk drawers and shipped to the barn where they will spend the majority of their abbreviated lives. It's common for factory farm barns to not allow chickens to go outside. They are often overcrowded, with a typical barn housing hundreds of thousands of birds. Barns are often filthy, forcing birds to stand in their own excrement, which can cause a number of health problems including lesions on the skin. Artificial lighting is kept on in barns for unnaturally long periods of time, compelling birds to spend more time eating than resting, so that they can grow faster and meet the production schedules of companies.
After around six or seven weeks, broiler chickens are carted off to the slaughterhouse and endure what is arguably the most inhumane slaughter practices endured by any factory-farmed animal: live-shackle slaughter. Birds are hung upside down, with their legs clamped into metal stirrups, and are then sent via conveyor belts towards an electrified bath designed to stun them before their throats are cut and their bodies thrown into boiling water. Many birds remain conscious after the electrocution bath.
Egg-Laying Hens
Like broilers, egg-laying hens begin their lives in hatcheries without their parents, but this is where the similarities end. After hatching, chicks are placed onto conveyor belts and passed by workers who determine the sex of each chick. Every male chick is then killed, either by gassing or being ground alive. The female chicks undergo debeaking and are vaccinated.
Chicks are then transferred to a growing site, then to the egg production facility after around 16 weeks. Hens begin to lay eggs at around 19 weeks of age. Globally, the majority of egg operations still confine their chickens into battery cages, which are small cages allocating each hen with an area about the size of a sheet of lined paper. While all aspects of factory farming pose serious welfare concerns, battery cages create some of the most stressful conditions endured by any farmed animal. Birds are prevented from engaging in any natural behaviors, unable to even spread their wings without being constrained by a wall or other hens. Other caged hen systems include colony cages, which provide perches, nesting boxes, and more space, or multi-tier aviaries where birds aren’t in cages and are able to sit on multi-level perches.
In some countries like the US, forced molting can occur towards the end of a hen’s life. This process involves starving birds to force their bodies to produce more eggs. Then, at about 72 weeks of age, hens are transported from the barn to the slaughterhouse, where, like broilers, they often face live-shackle slaughter.
“Cage-Free” Chickens
“Cage-free” means that chickens are not confined in cages of any kind. Enriched cages—which are only a slight improvement over battery cages—allow chickens a little more room and come equipped with perches. Cage-free removes cages altogether, allowing hens to perch on multi-level aviaries. Cage-free hens are not allowed to go outside; however, they are spared the significant hardships that a caged life can cause.
The Humane League’s cage-free campaign has been involved in securing 94 commitments from companies to go cage-free.
What About Free-Range Eggs and Meat?
While it might sound idyllic, free-range doesn’t mean much freedom for broiler chickens or laying hens. To be able to utilize the UDSA term “free-range” on packaging, farms must allow chickens access to the outdoors. However, there aren’t any stipulations on what size of outdoor space is required. Free-range factory farms can simply provide a small, barren yard not nearly big enough for all the chickens at the facility. Chickens also don’t have to be given access to this outdoor space at all times—the door can be shut for as many hours as the farmer desires. The only requirement is that there be a door that can be opened at some point.
Though free-range is an improvement over battery cages, birds from these operations often still face live-shackle slaughter in the end.
Conclusion
Not all chickens are treated the same. For birds born into the industrial farming system, life is short and can be filled with violence. Birds kept as pets or in small, backyard flocks certainly have a more natural life, since they may go outside and remain together as a family at least for much of their lives.
Breeding chickens on factory farms will continue as long as the global demand for cheap eggs and meat goes unabated—a trend that can be turned around should more people adopt a plant-based diet.
