We expose the true story of the chickens in the chicken meat industry.
These curious and social creatures are the most farmed land animal in the world. According to data from FAO, at any point in time, there exist about 27 billion chickens in production. (Note that this number represents chickens alive at any given time, not the total number of chickens killed for food per year – which is currently around 75 billion.)
The chickens raised commercially for meat in New Zealand live short, painful lives because they’ve been selectively bred by the poultry industry to grow abnormally fast.
The largely unknown victims of the chicken farming industry
The suffering of chickens bred for meat is largely unknown, with the worst of the suffering being caused by the abnormally fast-growing breeds currently used throughout the New Zealand meat industry. These breeds of chicken grow so big and so fast that many suffer chronic pain and lameness. Some can’t lift their bodies up off the floor to reach food or water. Others struggle to breathe or suffer organ failure within weeks of being hatched. They are slaughtered at just six weeks old, as overgrown babies.
They are bred to break!
This suffering is all because they’ve been bred to grow faster than nature intended. It’s not natural and it doesn’t have to be like this.
Chickens bred for meat are different to hens farmed for their eggs
Although these two types of chicken share a common ancestor, the jungle fowl, they look very different. This is because they have each been genetically selected over decades specifically to maximise profit for farming, despite it compromising the birds’ welfare.
These birds still crave all their natural behaviours. That’s something industry-manipulated genetic selection can’t change. Chickens want space to run and flap their wings. They are very curious, enjoying foraging, pecking at objects and scratching the ground. They love to dustbathe and it’s an important part of keeping their skin healthy and parasite-free. Chickens naturally choose to perch up off the ground, especially at night. Many of these behaviours are denied in factory farm sheds.
The white chickens currently used for meat production in New Zealand are of one of two breeds, Cobb or Ross. They have a body designed to grow ‘meat’ not sustain life.
Although killed at just six weeks of age, or even fewer, each year approximately two million chickens die (or are culled) even earlier, succumbing to lameness or other debilitating health problems as a result of their unhealthy breed.
It’s time to stop breeding
fast-growing chickens
Fast-growing chickens are bred to break
The chicken breeds used commercially for meat grow explosively fast. The chicks double in size each week until they are slaughtered. Even though they are the size of adult chickens, they are still blue-eyed chicks, that cheep like baby birds.
This explosive growth puts huge pressure on their young bodies. Their muscles and organs can’t keep up with the growth. This leads to many health problems and suffering.
Lameness
The vast majority of chickens bred for meat struggle to walk. This is because their underdeveloped legs have trouble holding up their massive bodies At the severe end of the scale, their legs completely collapse.
The most recent lameness study by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), in 2013, found that more than a third of chickens on the factory farms studied had an obvious abnormality affecting their ability to move. Other studies have shown that lame birds prefer food containing painkillers, and lame chickens increase their activity when given painkillers.
The pain when they move strongly contributes to the sedentary behaviour of these unhealthy breeds. This leaves them spending most of their time lying in dirty, excrement-filled litter on the shed floor. Even in free-range systems, many birds will never get outside because they struggle to walk more than a few steps.
Unable to stay upright
Modern-day chickens reared for meat have been genetically selected to have a large amount of breast tissue (the meat that most popular with those who eat chickens). This can lead to these young birds being so top-heavy that they fall over and get trapped on their backs, unable to reach food or water.
Heart (metabolic) disease
The explosively fast growth of chickens means that heart disease is common, as their underdeveloped baby hearts and other organs cannot keep up. Death from heart disease can be slow and very distressing for the chickens as they struggle to get enough oxygen. They can literally die of a broken heart.
Over six thousand chickens die every day due to sickness or lameness in chicken farms around New Zealand. This is according to figures from the Poultry Industry of New Zealand (PIANZ).
In 2021, PIANZ spokesperson Michael Brooks said, “NZ reports a meat chicken mortality of less than 3 percent across all meat chicken sheds on an annual basis”. That means that millions of birds suffer and die in this way every year. The MPI 2013 study mentioned above, found the percentage of birds found dead, (excluding those culled for lameness etc.), to be 2.65%.
The many ways chickens are suffering due to their unnatural breeds is why we say they are Cruel By Design!
Breeder/parent birds
Breeder birds are kept to produce the millions of day-old chicks who get shipped to farms all across the country. These parent birds can suffer even more than their chicks.
These parent birds are, of course, the same breed as their chicks who grow explosively fast. As described above, even at only six weeks, the chicks reared for meat suffer many health problems. The breeder birds, by comparison, are kept alive for about 18 months before being slaughtered.
For the parent birds to survive long enough to reach sexual maturity, to mate and lay eggs, the chicken producers have to slow down their growth rate as much as possible. They do this by restricting their feed. This means the parent birds are constantly hungry – a severe welfare problem for these chickens.
Breeder birds are kept in sheds with the roosters and hens in together so they can mate. The roosters are known to repeatedly force themselves on the hens, who cannot get away and hide. Injuries of the hens can be common and severe.
How we can help chickens
The Better Chicken Commitment is a set of world-leading criteria, the minimum that ensures that chickens bred for meat are healthier and have better living conditions. The key is a change to healthier breeds that grow at a more natural rate.
Animals Aotearoa’s food business team works with leading food businesses to get them to commit to the Better Chicken Commitment, which will eventually lead to better lives for over one hundred million chickens in New Zealand every year.
About hens used for eggs
The brown hens used for eggs in New Zealand are called ‘layers’ by the industry. They are selectively bred to lay the maximum number of eggs. Jungle fowl only lay about 15 eggs a year, but a so-called layer hen will produce an egg almost every day. They are slaughtered at 12 to 18 months old, but the lucky few are rescued and go on to live a longer life as backyard chickens.
You can find out what farming systems are used for hens used for eggs in NZ, and what this means for the labelling of eggs.
