BY MELANIE ADCOCK, D.V.M.

hickens---our language is filled with references to their behavior. People are called "" when afraid, "henpecked" when nagged, and our problems are said to "come home to roost." But despite their prominence in our language, have little go­ ing for them in the public eye. Chickens don't gaze at us soulfully or wriggle with joy; they express emotions more subtly, through a rich variety of calls and postures. To a casual observer, their movements can appear mechanical, even comical. Because of chickens' apparent lack of similarity to companion animals, it can be hard to relate to the suf­ fering of a laying hen crowded into a wire cage, unable to spread her wings. But if people knew more about the true nature of chickens, I think we would see a resounding public outcry over their mistreat­ ment on factory farms. Their future depends on new public apprecia­ tion of the hen: she is not unlovable or emotionless, but a thinking, sensitive, and complex creature. A chicken can recognize and remember about 100 other chickens. Chickens enjoy playing with toys, preferring balls with faces over plain balls. Some chickens like listen­ ing to classical music (Vivaldi, in particu­ lar) while others cud­ dle up to red mittens for comfort. Knock­ ing on the door be­ fore entering a small henhouse will keep hens from being star­ tled by a visitor. These are but a few examples of the in­ teresting nature of laying hens. The chicken was brought to America by the Pilgrims. Descended from the red jungle fowl of Southeast Asia, the modern laying hen is very similar to her ancestors in general behavior. When allowed to roam freely, hens are extremely active during the day-walking, run­ ning, flying, exploring, and searching for food. At night they roost together, preferring to perch high off the ground. Their reputation as "chickens" may be due to their response to predators-running or flying away when disturbed, sometimes freezing or crouching. Chickens are inquisitive animals and will closely investigate any­ thing new in their environment. Hens like to work for their food. Even if food is readily available, hens choose to spend a large part of their day exploring for food and scratching and pecking at the ground. Chickens are very social animals and form tight social groups. Groups of birds tend to dust-bathe (a grooming behavior) and eat to-

A massive, four-tier house for laying hens is typical of today's intensive-confine­ ment battery-cage operations. Above: newly hatched chicks begin life crowded in incubator cases. The females are destined for lives as assembly-line -laying machines; the males are killed. 11 gether. They communicate with each other tive lives-up to two years---crowded into shackled upside down on a conveyor and through visual displays and calls. The ba­ tiny cages with other hens. their throats are cut by an automated knife. laying hens by picking up a carton of by chick begins communicating while still To limit the damage from the aberrant Then they are dropped into a scalding from more humanely raised, uncaged hens. inside the egg, responding with positive excessive pecking of cagemates in this re­ tank. The birds are supposedly dead when Once the industry becomes aware of chirps to the mother's purring as she incu­ strictive and barren enviromnent, part of they go into the scalding tanks, but in a consumers' concern for hens and the de- bates the egg. Once hatched, the chick the hen's beak is removed, a practice European sh1dy, 30 percent of chickens "imprints" on the mother hen, maintaining termed "." A hen's beak is cru­ were still alive when they were dropped in­ a permanent, close relationship with the cial for preening, exploring, and feeding; to the tanks. hen as he/she matures. debeaked chickens show behavior changes The flesh from "spent" laying hens is Nesting is extremely important to laying suggestive of not only short-term but also so bruised and damaged that it can be used hens. They prefer to lay their eggs in a pri­ long-term pain. The severed nerve endings only for foods such as soup, pot pies, or vate nest, and they perform an elaborate se­ in the beak develop into abnormal nervous pet food. These hens endure extreme fear, quence of behaviors while searching for a tissue, and the beak never heals properly. abusive handling, open transport, and bro­ nest site, building the nest, and laying eggs. A hen's nesting desire is so strong that ken bones only to be sold for as little as Laying hens have a well-developed ner­ she will go without food and water to be twenty-five cents each. vous system and are sensitive to touch, allowed to use a nest when she's ready to Ironically, the first time battery-caged temperature, and pain. They also have ex­ lay. Deprived of nests, hens in battery hens are able to flap their wings is when cellent vision and see a color range similar cages pace anxiously and repeatedly at­ they struggle against rough handling as to that seen by humans. tempt to escape for two to four hours prior they are transported to the . It is hard to imagine less appropriate to laying an egg. Without privacy or nests, The first time they experience the out­ housing for the highly social, complex, they Jay their eggs on the sloping wire doors is when they are sent to slaughter in and active laying hen than "battery" cages. floor on which they are forced to stand. open trucks. As future egg layers, female These cages, made entirely of wire, are so These birds are bred to be egg-laying ma­ baby chicks are spared from death. Male small and cramped that the hens cannot chines, continuing to lay normally even baby chicks, having no value to the egg in­ even spread their wings. About 98 percent when severely injured. They typically lay dustry, are gassed, ground up, or suffocat­ mand for eggs from uncaged birds, it will of all eggs sold in supermarkets come 230 to 280 eggs a year. ed. But at least they do not have to suffer begin to buy from farmers who are pro­ from hens who spend their entire produc- Hens suffer foot and feather damage life in a battery cage. ducing eggs more humanely. Other farm­ from poorly designed wire cages unsuited ers will be able to release their birds from to their needs. The wire floor doesn't al­ Most of us grow up with images of cages and begin raising free-roaming birds. HOW YOU CAN HELP low dust-bathing, or scratching, or pecking barnyards where hens run about freely, at the ground for food, and the cramped happily clucking and pecking at the Today these more humanely produced • Ask your quarters do not even permit normal preen­ ground, and laying their eggs in straw­ foods are not readily available in conve­ grocer to stock ing. The complete lack of exercise, cou­ filled nests. Why hasn't the reality of the nient locations such as local grocery eggs from un­ pled with the demands of high egg produc­ battery cage replaced this myth in adver­ stores. To confront this problem, The caged hens. tion, causes bone weakness, predisposing tising or in children's books? HSUS is mounting an "egg effort" in sev­ • Urge restau­ the hens to broken bones. The obvious answer is that showing us eral major cities. We are joining forces rants and bak­ About 20 percent of laying hens are the reality of the hen's life would decrease with consumer, environmental, farmer, ~~~• cries to purchase subjected to . Typically egg sales. Consumers are misled by idyllic and animal-protection groups in each city eggs from uncaged tl1od is withheld for up to twelve days (wa­ barnyard scenes with hens brooding in to bring eggs from uncaged hens into gro­ hens or to feature such eggs in one or ter is usually withheld for one to three nests and chicks cheeping behind their at­ cery stores and to urge consumers to sup­ two entrees or select baked goods. days). This shock treatment causes almost tentive mothers. Just as objectionable are port the more humane egg farmers. At the • Send for our action packet, which de­ all the birds to molt rapidly at the same the ads portraying chickens as dumb-far same time, we will help consumers learn scribes how you can start an "egg ef­ time instead of at their natural pace, so from accurate or appreciative of the unique about the cruelties endured by battery­ fort" in your city and gives more infor­ that, when they recover, their productive and complex behaviors chickens display. caged hens and how each of us can help mation on how you can help to get lay­ life will have been extended. The happy barnyard hen is not the only give them a better life. After some 8,000 ing hens out of battery cages. Considered "spent" after twelve to myth being perpehtated. America cherishes years of domestication and service to 1m­ Finally, consider these "three Rs" twenty-tour months in battery cages, hens its heritage of family farms and wants to mankind, they deserve nothing less. when you shop or eat out: are pulled out of their cages, stuffed into keep farmers and ranchers on the land. But Our efforts to empower consumers to Refine your diet by purchasing eggs crates, and sent to slaughter. Laying hens in the last twelve years, 80 percent of U.S. improve the lives of laying hens are part of Rhode Island reds bustle contentedly outside henhouses equipped \Yith ramps for easy access. On such from humane egg-production systems. sutfcr especially high rates of death and egg producers have been driven out of a new HSUS nationwide campaign asking free-range farms, laying hens can go outdoors, enjoy social contact, and cat and brood comforlabl;; !met: Look for the words Fee-roaming, Fee­ injury during this ordeal. Many arc trans­ business. This loss of farmers has paral­ consumers to "shop with compassion." unlike the laying hens restricted to crowded cages, these hens can move about and socialize. v\~1C11 con­ range, .fi·ee-running, or uncaged on the ported great distances in open (uncovered) leled the increase in the number of produc­ Because the battery cage is one of the sumers demand eggs from hens raised more humancl); retailers "ill respond. carton. trucks, completely exposed to the elements ers keeping more than a million birds, all in most inhumane systems for raising ani­ Reduce your consumption of eggs. and deprived of food and water. During battery cages. mals, it is the first target of our campaign. from musculoskeletal disorders, and every We, the consumers, are the key. How Replace eggs in your diet with handling and transport, large numbers of Confining hens to the battery cage is No other farm animal endures such ex­ year 28,000 people lose their jobs or be­ we spend our money at the grocery store nonanimal foods. these hens ( 68 percent in one study) have not the only cruelty inflicted in the treme physical confinement and crowding come disabled due to work-related in­ directly influences how food is made and It is within our power as caring con­ their weakened bones broken. industry. The life of a poultry-processing for as long as the laying hen does. We JUnes. how animals are raised. Every time you sumers to create a better future for farm The final act of cruelty to the hens is worker is also one of misery. The line need your help to spread the word about Our country is not only losing its inde­ reach for a carton of eggs from battery­ animals, for humane farmers and slaughtering them without prior stutming speeds at processing plants are so fast that battery-caged hens and to urge all egg pendent family farmers, but the poultry in­ caged hens, you are telling the grocer and to render them unconscious. The battery many workers are forced to perform a users to switch to eggs from free-roaming I '"'"'""· '"d foe_ """"'·'"· PI'"~' bo­ dustry is also treating people and animals the egg industry that you accept that prod­ gm today by JOimng us m our efforts to J: cage is the cause of this cruelty, as well: repetitive motion on every other bird, one hens. • like mere machines to be used until they uct and the current treatment of laying free laying hens from their cages. • the hens' weakened bones would fracture motion every two seconds' One in three are "spent." It's time to hold the industry hens. Instead for just pem1ies more a day, Melanie Adcock, D. VM., is HSUS director -----~- ---·- during stunning. Fully conscious, hens are workers suffers moderate to extreme pain accountable for its practices. you can improve the lives of millions of offarm animals. 12 HSUS NEWS • Spring 1993 HSUS NEWS • Spring 1993 13