There are several common misconceptions about how chickens are raised for meat in New Zealand. Misleading labelling and the difference between egg and meat farms, contribute to many people not realising the reality for chickens bred for meat in Aotearoa.

Read on to see common misconceptions about chickens bred for meat and check if you’ve been duped in the grocery aisle!

A note on terminology. This article is going to be primarily talking about chickens bred for meat. Many people have heard a lot about hens farmed for eggs being kept in cages, and suffering because of it. While I will touch on this in the article, I will primarily focus on chickens bred for meat. They may not be trapped in cages, but they are trapped in an unnatural body crammed with thousands of others in massive sheds. 

Where does NZ chicken come from? And how are chickens treated?

While we hear lots of news coverage about eggs and standards for egg farms in New Zealand, very little is reported about the industry that farms and slaughters chickens for meat.

There are hundreds of sheds filled with chickens across the country from North to South. You may have driven past a farm without realising as they a bit look like a warehouse.

Chickens farmed for meat are treated like objects, with every part of their short life controlled. Many live in chronic pain, including suffering debilitating lameness, all because they’ve been bred to grow faster than nature intended. 

How are chickens farmed in NZ?

Chickens farmed for their meat suffer as a result of some of the worst conditions and animal welfare practices of any animal industry in New Zealand.

Despite being known as a nation of cow and sheep farming, the vast majority of our farmed animals (over 80%) are chickens, and nine out of ten chickens in NZ are farmed for their meat (not eggs).

Chickens bred for meat have been bred to suffer to maximise profits and the conditions they are kept in on farms, only further exacerbate that suffering. 

Chickens have been bred over the last five decades to grow abnormally fast. This is the primary cause of their suffering. The unnatural breeds that are used in New Zealand (Cobb and Ross breeds) are slaughtered at just six weeks. Their unnatural size and growth rate, lead to high levels of chronic pain. Some chickens grow so big that their legs can’t hold their bodies off the ground and as a result, they can’t reach the food and water. They spend their short lives trapped inside barren sheds, struggling to move amongst thousands of chickens.

Even free-range chickens are killed at just six weeks old and on free-range farms, there can be around 12 -14 chickens kept in every square metre (that is about the size of a small desk).

In New Zealand, Animals Aotearoa is working with food brands to phase out the use of these unnaturally growing breeds, in favour of healthier breeds who grow more naturally. Read about our work with food brands here.

Are free range chickens really free range?

It’s complicated. The standards for free range are written by the chicken meat industry themselves, you can read our in-depth explainer on it here.

Does NZ chicken have hormones added?

This is a common misconception when it comes to chickens bred for meat. Because of the unnatural size of these birds, many have assumed that growth promoters or genetic modification have been used.

But in New Zealand, no hormones are used. These chickens don’t need anything added to make them grow faster, they actually grow at such a fast rate already, because of genetic selection.

By adding a label to say the meat has “no added hormones”, the industry is obscuring the reality of what causes the unnatural growth and also hides what else might be added to chicken meat.

Why are chicken farms bad?

This seems like a bit of an obvious question, but it is worth asking. 

News stories over the years have covered stories about fires at chicken farms and the bad smell affecting neighbours. 

A fire in 2018 killed 50,000 chickens at Tegel, and almost 250,000 chickens died when another farm had a power cut in 2019.  

When animals are bred to such unnatural extremes and kept in overcrowded conditions many problems arise, many of which we’ve touched on in this article already. Other issues include:

• Muscle myopathies that result in low quality meat.
• A large amount of excrement (from so many birds) results in ammonia-laden air.
• The stress caused by being caught and transported for slaughter.
• The slaughter methods used.

No one who sees the reality of chicken farming in New Zealand would think that it is natural or humane.

What does cage-free chicken mean?

The label ‘cage-free’ on chicken meat means nothing. It is just a marketing ploy that leads people to think that cage-free chicken is better than the rest.

What is the difference between cage-free and free-range chicken?

When it comes to chickens bred for meat, chickens are not kept in cages. So when you see the label ‘cage-free’ on chicken meat in the supermarket, all that label can tell you is that it is chicken meat that meets the minimum standards I’ve described earlier in this article.

A standard chicken operation will have upwards of 40,000 chickens in each shed. A free-range operation can have 36,000 chickens in each shed, so there is very little difference. 

In free-range sheds, there will be small gaps in the wall called “pop-holes” that provide access to the outdoors. The unnatural breeds who have difficulty walking and may suffer from a range of other health problems, struggle to get outside. Others are trapped in a sea of thousands of other chickens blocking their access to the outside. Some studies suggest that more than a third of chickens never make it outside.

On a standard farm, chickens are kept with about 15-17 chickens per square metre (about the size of a small desk) and 12-15 chickens per square metre on so-called “free-range.”

Compare that to free-range chickens on egg farms. They have a maximum stocking density of 2-3 chickens per square metre.

All this makes you wonder how the industry can get away with such misleading labelling.

Are caged chickens banned in NZ?

This is a more complicated question than it initially sounds, but the simple answer is no.

Cages are not used for chickens bred for meat, but they aren’t explicitly banned. When it comes to hens farmed for eggs, one type of cage, known as the battery cage was banned this year. But colony cages are still legal. You can read more about egg farming here. 

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