INTRODUCTION
The chicken industry of Alberta has been around for many years now. Over 300 farms in Alberta are dedicated purely for the production of table eggs, that is the eggs you can buy in the grocery stores. Over the past decades the general way to raise and house these laying chickens has virtually been unchanged. A recent documentary in the province of Alberta broadcasted by the TV program "W5" showed a biased view of the way the chickens are housed. This has become a large issue for many animal activists throughout the province. Due to this unfair broadcasting as well as generalization of all table egg producers, the market of eggs are in jeopardy.
DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM
There lies a problem in all this, and it may not be quite as obvious as we think. Which is the true problem? The generalization of all farmers in Alberta? The biased TV documentary broadcasted across the province? The actual housing of the laying chickens? Could it be the animal activists creating unneeded uncertainty in the industry? Or maybe the jeopardizing of all egg producers in Alberta. Each pose a valid problem related to the main issue, and it's safe to say that all these problems are all included in the main problem. So what is the main problem one might ask? The problem has narrowed down to the general public being unhappy about how today's modern consumption eggs are produced. Is there really one solution that can fix this problem, as well as the problems within? It's hard to keep everyone happy but there are solutions.
BACKGROUND
What started this rolling ball of problems was the broadcasting of the "W5" Documentary. This basically was an undercover person who went to work for a table egg producer and took video footage of the conditions ...
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...fortable chickens, but the farmers will not need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating their barns for no valid reason.
CONCLUSION
I urge all people to accept this solution recommendation in order to keep the egg industry running as it should. I ask that all would educate themselves on valid information to keep the egg industry secure and for the peace of mind for all consumers. With this simple task of being educated about the industry we can save the hard working farmers the burden of increasing regulations, making agriculture harder to sustain as a occupation.
Works Cited
"Eggs: From Hen to Home." From Hen to Home. Ed. Alberta Egg Farmers. Egg Farmers of Alberta, 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
Producers, Alberta Hatching. "Who We Are." - Alberta Hatching Egg Producers. Alberta Hatching Egg Producers, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.
One issue the documentary highlights is the abuse of animals and workers by the food companies, in order to reveal how the companies hide the dark side of the food world from the public. In several instances, we see animals being treated cruelly. The workers have little regard for the lives of the animals since they are going to die anyways. Chickens are grabbed and thrown into truck beds like objects, regulation chicken coups allow for no light the entire lives of the chickens, and cows are pushed around with fork lifts to take to slaughter. Many chickens are even bred to have such large breasts that their bones and organs cannot support their bodies. These chickens cannot walk and they even wheeze in pain for the cameras. The film is clearly using the unacceptable premise fallacy of appeal to emotion in this instance, because the viewer is meant to feel pity at the sight of the abused animals. This supports their conclusion, because many American’s imagine their food coming from a happy, country farm and would be horrified to know the truth.
From a financial and marketing standpoint, the effects have been catastrophic. In some areas, milk production has decreased by an average of two liters daily and calving index (efficiency at which new calves are produced) went down by an average of twenty days (Davies NP). Th...
Chickens are one of the top most tortured animals in factory farms. Farmers get the most money for chickens that are heavier and have enlarged thighs and breasts. Like most factory farmed animals, broiler chickens are raised in overcrowded cages their entire life, and become very aggressive. Because of this aggressiveness the employees of the farms cut of their beaks and toes without any type of painkiller or an anesthetic just to keep them from fighting. After being “debeaked” some chickens are then not able to eat and starve. Layer chickens lay 90-95% of the eggs sold in the U.S. (2013b) The torture starts the day they are born. Chicks are placed on a belt, where an employee than picks up each chick to see if it is a male or female. Newborn male chicks are thrown into trash bags, ground up alive, crushed, and killed many other inhumane ways.
Chickens have to endure suffering that no living thing should have to go through. The egg laying chickens have to be forced into tiny cages without enough room to stretch their wings. Up to 8 hens are crammed in to a cage that is the size of a folded newspaper, about 11"-14". Stress from the confinement leads to severe feather loss so the chicken will be almost completely bald in the cold cages. When the chickens are of egg-laying age, there beaks are cut off without any pain killers to ease the pain, they do this so the chickens don’t break their own eggs and eat them because the chickens are hungry.
In order to determine who can potentially claim the eggs and propose damages, the following issues must be addressed:
Chicken is a major section of the economy of agriculture in United States. That is why the genetically modified chickens are consumed by millions of people including children. Chickens that are genetically modified are raised in filthy cages throughout their lives and pass through many mistreatments. Their main food consists of hormones, corn, and genetically modified organisms (Lundeen). All these foods are aimed at making them grow at a faster rate and increase their weight. The heavy weight makes them become crippled and even starts to suffer from a variety of diseases like ammonia, organ failures, getting a weak immune system, bronchitis, and re...
A manicured green field of grass blades cut to perfectly matched lengths; a blue expanse ornamented with puffy cotton clouds; an immaculately painted red barn centered exactly at the top of a hill--the chicken gazes contentedly at his picturesque world. Within an area surrounded by a shiny silver fence, he looks around at his friends: roosters pecking at a feast of grains and hens lounging on luxurious cushions of hay. As the nice man in a plaid shirt and blue jeans collects the hens’ eggs, the chicken feels an overwhelming sense of indebtedness to him for providing this idyllic lifestyle. On a day as pristine as all the others, the chicken is happily eating his lunchtime meal as the nice man carefully gathers the smooth white eggs when it notices that the man has left one behind. Strangely located at the empty end of the metal enclosure, highlighted by the bright yellow sun, the white egg appears to the chicken different from the rest.
One particularly warm evening last summer, I walked into my backyard to relax and enjoy some fresh air. Instead, I was greeted by the loud shriek of a chicken. We had an uninvited guest in our vegetable garden. Unfortunately, such chicken invasions are a common occurrence in many areas of Stockton, California. Throughout the United States, municipalities small and large are debating whether or not they should enact residential livestock ordinances, specifically in regards to poultry. Considering that they are often a public nuisance and pose a health risk, local officials should consider restricting the private ownership of chickens in heavily populated urban areas.
Tom Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights,” in In Defense of Animals, ed. Peter Singer (Oxford: Blackwell, 1985), 21. U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistical Services, Livestock Slaughter. 2005 Summary, March 2006: USDA, NASS, Poultry Slaughter: 2005
It is horrifying to know the fact that the processed food that we eat today is once animals that are processed alive. The ignorance of the companies has caused the suffering of these poor animals. Gale (2013) writes, “.[media] do not tell us that chickens are the most tortured animals in factory farms and that most chickens have to stand on their own feces all day and end up getting litter burn from their manure. hens are often crammed together in cases so tiny that they do not get enough room to even lift a single wing—which then immobilizes them for their entire lives.”
I have always been drawn to chickens since I was a little girl. It was only in my thirty’s that I first came in to contact with chickens on a farm. You would think that a city girl like me would be afraid, nope, I went right in to feed and sat in chicken poop. No one told me I shouldn’t sit in the coop and feed them, but I was fine with it, they calm me. Each year I keep telling myself I will move when I can have my chickens. I will cover the difference between meat and egg layers. I will discuss the different ways to home them, and keep them safe. Why should people keep chickens at all? In this research paper I will go over the information that I have read and how I feel personally about raising and keeping chickens in your back yard.
As a human, we possess certain rights that protect us in society, however the animals we raise for food live under a much more complicated system that constantly changes. Americans have recently begun to protest animal treatment, especially in the meat industry. Many animal rights groups claim that animal farming is an inhuman practice that violates the rights of all living creatures. Farmers believe that animal right shouldn't change as any changes could cost them millions in new technology to safely care for the animals. The American farming industry poses several moral issues about animal rights which possess no easy solution, however new alternatives appear to have answers for this growing dilemma.
Morally, one may feel obligated to exercise Vegetarianism due to the inhumane treatment of animals throughout the farming process. The issue is that roughly ten billion animals are raised for United States food consumption alone. Animals such as cows, fish, chickens, pigs, and turkeys are subjected to entrapment and confinement, less than sanitary living conditions and mutilation for the purposes of efficiency. Cows and pigs, from birth, are placed in narrow stalls where there is no room to turn around or even lay down. These animals’ daily lives consist eating and overeating until it is time to be slaughtered. Thousands and thousands of egg-laying hens are packed in cages, chicken crates, and coops. These animals are so densely packed that it is hard to distinguish between those that are living and dead. This often times leads to the spread of diseases among these animals and is one of the more prominent factors that contribute to unsanitary living conditions. The discomfort experienced by these animals leads to them being mutilated. The chickens that try to peck have their beaks cut; the chickens that try to fly have their wings clipped; the livestock that lose mobility, as a result of limb atrophy due to the stationary lifestyle experienced in stall confinement, are beaten. Animal mutilation, ...
What most Americans don’t know is that their food supply is being controlled by a select few corporations. There are four food corporations that control 80% of the market; Monsanto, Tyson, Perdue and Smithfield. In the film, Food Inc., Tyson was reported as being one of the largest meat packing companies in the world. As seen in the film, one of the industrial chicken farmers under contract with Perdue gave a look into what industrial chicken farming looks like. The chickens were kept in overcrowded conditions that didn’t allow them to move. Many of the chickens died as a result of their accelerated growth and cramped conditions. The chickens were also fed antibiotics that are no longer working to prevent dangerous diseases. Corporations like Tyson and Perdue are producers of a large amount of food, in a small amount of land for a cheap price. Corporations have government agencies that are supposed to protect the consumer in their pockets and these agencies are allowing unsafe food products to be sold to consumers. Also in the film was the interview of Barbara Kowalcyk whose 2 year old son Kevin died after eating a burger that was infected with ...
Our focus would be on raising sustainable duck meat and eggs, while utilizing rotational duck grazing to enhance the health of our pastures. The farm and all products used on the farm would be organic, non-GMO and sustainable. Our pastured poultry model would utilize the now famous “eggmobile” (popularized by Joel Salatin), giving the ducks access to open pasture and fresh water. The birds would be supplemented their grain feed for about 20% of their diet, forage consisting of insects and grass for the rest of their intake and moved regularly to fresh pasture. The farm would focus on local and direct marketing outlets such as CSA’s, farmer’s markets and local restaurants. The management of the farm and pastures would be properly utilized so that our pastured production system is as humane, economical, supports the local community and results in a superior product in terms of flavor and