THL
Broiler chickens on factory farms are treated more like inanimate objects than living beings. Their brutal conditions also pose grave risks to human health and worker safety.
Chicken is the most widely consumed meat in the United States, with 9 billion chickens killed each year to feed Americans. These birds live and die within harsh industrial production facilities that place profit over animal welfare. Chickens raised for meat endure some of the worst conditions of any farmed animal, from the time they're born to the time they're slaughtered. After learning more about how chickens are raised for meat, we think you'll agree that this is an industry in dire need of reform.
What is a broiler chicken?
Broiler chickens are chickens who are bred and raised specifically for their meat. Commercial broiler chickens usually have white feathers and red crests, and they're mainly found on factory farms, where virtually all of the chicken sold in North America and around the world is raised. (In grocery stores, broiler chickens are sometimes referred to as "fryers" or "roasters.") Typically these chickens are killed at just 4-8 weeks of age, though their natural lifespan is several years.
Other types of farmed chickens include stewing chickens—egg-laying hens who are “spent,” meaning they've reached the end of their maximum egg production capacity. Capons are birds who have been castrated, and as a result, develop more slowly and produce more fatty meat.
Chicken breeds raised for meat
Industrial chicken producers have created a hybrid bird using Plymouth Rocks and Cornish hens, selecting traits that enable faster growth and larger pectoral muscles, which compose the "white-meat" breast part of the chicken. This breed is widespread on factory farms.
Other breeds of chickens used for meat can be found in backyards and smaller operations. These breeds include:
- Bresse
- Brown Leghorn
- Buckeye
- Chantecler
- Cornish Cross
- Croad Langshan
- Delaware
- Dorking
- Egyptian Fayoumi
- Freedom Rangers
- Jersey Giant
- Kosher King
- New Hampshire Red
- Orpington
- Turken
How are meat chickens treated?
Broiler chickens on factory farms are treated more like inanimate objects than living beings capable of experiencing pain and exhibiting emotional and cognitive complexity. After hatching, chicks are packed into crates and sent along conveyor belts to receive immunizations. Often they undergo a variety of mutilations, such as debeaking, without pain relief. Debeaking is the process in which portions of their beaks are severed to prevent behaviors such as cannibalism, which result from the stress of confinement. Portions of chickens’ toes and combs can be cut off as well.
Chicks are then placed in indoor sheds capable of housing hundreds of thousands of birds at a time. After about 47 days, chickens are sent for slaughter—a drastically shortened lifespan, as chickens can live for seven or more years.
How are meat chickens killed?
Meat chickens can be killed in a variety of ways, but one of the most common methods on factory farms is live-shackle slaughter. This may be the greatest cause of animal suffering in slaughterhouses. Live-shackle slaughter involves hanging chickens upside down and clamping their legs into stirrups, which often results in broken bones. Using a conveyor belt, the chickens are plunged into a tub of electrified water designed to knock them out. However, many birds remain conscious as they are moved along to subsequent stages of the slaughter. After they are electrified, the chickens’ throats are slit and their bodies are cast into a scalding bath designed to remove their feathers. Many are boiled alive.
Alternatively, broiler chickens can be killed using gas. In this process, they're placed into transport crates—which can inflict injuries such as broken bones—and moved through a tunnel with high concentrations of CO2.
Animal welfare issues
Many welfare issues arise throughout the process of raising chickens for food on factory farms. First, selective breeding forces the bodies of commercial broilers to grow unnaturally large in places that are more desirable to consumers—particularly the breasts. Larger breasts strain the birds' skeletons, leading to painful conditions and broken bones.
The living conditions of broiler chickens are also cause for concern. Especially in more intensive operations, broilers are not allowed to spend any time outside. Instead, their short lives are spent inside barren barns with hundreds of thousands of other birds. These spaces are often filthy, forcing chickens to stand in ammonia-laced excrement, which often causes lesions on their already fragile bodies.
Environmental impacts
Factory farms release a significant amount of harmful pollution into the environment, and chicken farms are no exception. Aside from generating foul odors that can infiltrate houses in neighboring communities, broiler sheds generate toxic pollution including endotoxins, ammonia, and particulate matter that damage local ecosystems and can contaminate the water supply. A single farm can generate huge amounts of animal waste, including feces, feathers, and used bedding.
One study found that broiler factories in the state of Maryland produced around 560 million pounds of poultry waste in 2017—enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every single day.
Health impacts
Raising broiler chickens using intensive farming methods isn't just bad for the chickens; it also endangers human health. Here are a few of the most common issues.
Avian influenza (bird flu)
Avian influenza, also known as avian flu or bird flu, refers to viruses that affect birds. Some of these viruses can be passed along to humans via a process known as zoonotic transmission. Avian influenza affects populations of birds being raised for meat, so it can lead to human outbreaks. As a result, these diseases are especially concerning for their pandemic potential.
Birds raised on factory farms can be susceptible to avian flu and other diseases due to unnatural conditions and extreme confinement, which can cause chronic depression of birds’ immune systems. Plus, because broilers have been selectively bred, many are nearly genetically identical, enabling any disease that takes hold within a population to spread more rapidly and become more virulent.
E. coli
E. coli are bacteria that live in the intestines of animals, including chickens and humans. Outbreaks of certain strains of the bacteria are a common problem on factory farms, causing poor or even fatal health conditions in chickens.
E. coli can also infect humans through the consumption of contaminated flesh, triggering serious symptoms such as bloody diarrhea, severe cramps, and kidney failure. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 3 to 5 percent of human E.coli infections are fatal, and mortality rates are substantially higher in children and the elderly.
Salmonella
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that over 1 million people in the US get sick from salmonella each year. Like E. coli, salmonella infection occurs when people consume tainted meat. This meat becomes contaminated when it comes into contact with animal feces. Salmonella infection can cause serious symptoms including fever and bloody diarrhea, and severe cases may require hospitalization.
Worker Health and Safety
Workers in the poultry industry—both on farms and in slaughterhouses— are routinely exposed to a range of health and safety hazards that they are ill-equipped to manage. Across the country, people employed in meatpacking plants tend to be immigrants and lower-income people of color. The meatpacking sector also tends to have low rates of unionization, leaving workers even more vulnerable to their profit-motivated employers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) deems the poultry processing industry to be particularly hazardous due to workers’ exposure to harmful chemicals, feces, and dust. Despite these threats, workers are often provided with little access to healthcare. Tyson, the country’s largest poultry producer, is notorious for blocking access to workers' compensation benefits in the event of injury.
What you can do to help
The sheer scale of the chicken industry can be difficult to grasp, making any attempts at reform feel hopeless. But environmental, health, and animal welfare advocates have reason to be encouraged. Even in just the past decade, activists have made great strides in changing industry practices for the better. Our campaigns have begun to push industry giant Tyson away from live-shackle slaughter—just one example of how collective action can make a difference.
Visit our Take Action page to learn more about how you can volunteer, spread the word, and join The Humane League’s Fast Action Network (FAN).
Conclusion
Broiler chickens continue to endure some of the harshest conditions of any animal on factory farms, posing risks to human health and worker safety along the way. Animal welfare concerns, environmental degradation, and the other issues plaguing this industry demand our attention. Serious changes should be made to the way chickens are raised for meat in this country.
