Poultry farming
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food.
[12] Free-range poultry farming allows chickens to roam freely for a period of the day, although they are usually confined in sheds at night to protect them from predators or kept indoors if the weather is particularly bad.
In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) states that a free-range chicken must have day-time access to open-air runs during at least half of its life.
Unlike in the United States, this definition also applies to free-range egg-laying hens, meaning they can still be confined in high stocking densities with limited outdoors access.
[17] The benefits of free-range poultry farming for laying hens include opportunities for natural behaviours such as pecking, scratching, foraging and exercise outdoors.
[18] Both intensive free-range poultry and "cage-free" farming with hens still being confined in close proximity due to high stocking densities have animal welfare concerns.
[35] Meat chickens, commonly called broilers, are floor-raised on litter such as wood shavings, peanut shells, and rice hulls, indoors in climate-controlled housing.
Under modern farming methods, meat chickens reared indoors reach slaughter weight at 5 to 9 weeks of age, as they have been selectively bred to do so.
The floor of the house is covered with bedding material consisting of wood chips, rice hulls, or peanut shells.
Because dry bedding helps maintain flock health, most growout houses have enclosed watering systems ("nipple drinkers") which reduce spillage.
[18] The benefits of free-range poultry farming include opportunities for natural behaviours such as pecking, scratching, foraging and exercise outdoors.
[citation needed] In addition, the strategies for killing livestock affected by avian influenza or highly pathogenic diseases or with significant epidemiological or eco-epidemiological risks have led in a large number of family backyards to replace old mixed varieties with laying poultry or modern meat dishes.
[citation needed] Faced with the criticism leveled at industrial farming (in particular concerning the killing of millions of chicks by gassing (with CO2) or even in certain cases denounced by the media by grinding live chicks, asphyxiation in plastic bags (when the animals are not buried alive or simply thrown in a dumpster), the concept of dual use is one of the possible answers, and as such supported by the Demeter network in Germany.
[47] It produced its own poultry by crossing lines presenting the sought-after characteristics,[48] which is a way to solve the problem of killing male chicks.
[49] The dual-purpose chicken selected by the Lohmann group, the “Lohmann Dual”,[50] is raised in Switzerland by a few breeders, and the Coop network decided to launch the experiment with a test on 5,000 poultry, although knowing that instead of producing up to 300 eggs per year like very good laying hens, it will only produce around 250 eggs per year, which are also smaller according to the journal of the Swiss Poultry Organization.
Many animal rights advocates object to killing chickens for food, the "factory farm conditions" under which they are raised, methods of transport, and slaughter.
Animal Outlook (formerly Compassion Over Killing) and other groups have repeatedly conducted undercover investigations at chicken farms and slaughterhouses which they allege confirm their claims of cruelty.
[51] A common practice among hatcheries for egg-laying hens is the culling of newly hatched male chicks since they do not lay eggs and do not grow fast enough to be profitable for meat.
[54][55] Laying hens are routinely beak-trimmed at 1 day of age to reduce the damaging effects of aggression, feather pecking and cannibalism.
[67] Beak-trimmed chicks initially peck less than non-trimmed chickens, which animal behaviorist Temple Grandin attributes to guarding against pain.
[68] The animal rights activist, Peter Singer, claims this procedure is bad because beaks are sensitive, and the usual practice of trimming them without anaesthesia is considered inhumane by some.
With a growing population and greater demand on the farmers, antibiotics appeared to be an ideal and cost-effective way to increase the output of poultry.
A 2004 study by the U.S. magazine Consumer Reports reported "no detectable arsenic in our samples of muscle" but found "A few of our chicken-liver samples has an amount that according to EPA standards could cause neurological problems in a child who ate 2 ounces of cooked liver per week or in an adult who ate 5.5 ounces per week."
The development of the "ready-to-cook broiler" in the 1950s added convenience while introducing risk, under the assumption that end-to-end refrigeration and thorough cooking would provide adequate protection.
Different from mammalian excrement, in poultry (and all birds) urine and feces are excreted as a combined manure, and the result is both wetter and higher in concentrated nitrogen.
Wet management is particularly used in battery egg laying operations, where the waste is sluiced out with constantly or occasionally flowing water.
Dry can also include open pasture where manure is absorbed by the existing soil and vegetation, but needs to be monitored diligently so as to not overwhelm the ground capacity and lead to runoff and other pollution problems.
Mortality is a daily consideration for poultry farmers, and the carcasses must be disposed of in order to limit the spread of disease and the prevalence of pests.
Government organizations, like the USDA, may offer financial assistance to farmers looking to begin utilizing environmentally friendly mortality solutions.
[102] Oxfam America reports that huge industrialized poultry operations are under such pressure to maximize profits that workers are denied access to toilets.
