Ethical Dilemma #5 Chicken Farms - how ethical are they?
The Ethical Dilemma Around Chicken Farms
Chicken is a very popular meat, but many feel the chicken production industry can be cruel to the birds. Broiler chickens are the most popular chicken on the market and fast-food menus. These chickens are raised in large, windowless buildings in flocks between 20 000 and 50 000 birds. Feeding, watering, temperature and ventilation are all automatically controlled. Most broiler chicken are slaughtered after just six or seven weeks (a chicken's natural lifespan is around seven years). The farm carefully controls the artificial lighting within the broiler sheds. When the chickens first arrive, the lighting is bright so the chicks can find the food and water. This encourages eating and rapid growth. After a time, the lighting is dimmed in order to prevent fighting between the chickens. The birds have little space in which to move. The space diminishes even further as the chickens grow.
Free-range chickens are raised in open pastures where they forage during the day for natural foods. They return to their nesting sheds at night. As a result of their daily exercise, the chickens develop good muscle tone and are much more meaty than the farmed chickens (it is the muscle tissue of the chicken that we eat). The chickens are treated better, and the meat is tastier, but these birds are more expensive for the consumer. If we impose free-range standards on all chicken production, the price of chicken will skyrocket.
Another issue to consider is the environmental impact of these chicken farms.
How important is it to you how chickens are raised?
Do you care more about the availability of inexpensive chicken from the supermarket or your favourite fast-food restaurant?
What is your standard for ethical treatment of chickens?
Some resources:
http://www.peta.org/
http://www.upc-online.org/fouling.html
http://sustainablepoultry.ncat.org/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/epa-plays-chicken-regulations-poultry-farm-emissions--steel-mills-oil-refineries.php
Free-range chickens are raised in open pastures where they forage during the day for natural foods. They return to their nesting sheds at night. As a result of their daily exercise, the chickens develop good muscle tone and are much more meaty than the farmed chickens (it is the muscle tissue of the chicken that we eat). The chickens are treated better, and the meat is tastier, but these birds are more expensive for the consumer. If we impose free-range standards on all chicken production, the price of chicken will skyrocket.
Another issue to consider is the environmental impact of these chicken farms.
How important is it to you how chickens are raised?
Do you care more about the availability of inexpensive chicken from the supermarket or your favourite fast-food restaurant?
What is your standard for ethical treatment of chickens?
Some resources:
http://www.peta.org/
http://www.upc-online.org/fouling.html
http://sustainablepoultry.ncat.org/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/epa-plays-chicken-regulations-poultry-farm-emissions--steel-mills-oil-refineries.php
As the global population continues to increase, so does the endless need for plentiful, long lasting and reliable resources. These resources include energy, water and of course food. As humans multiple, so does the need for fast, cheap and easy resources in order to sustain everyone's needs. One of these resource distributors are large scale chicken farms. Large, windowless sheds where thousands of birds are kept in close quarters, resulting in the quick and mass distribution of meat towards markets, super stores and restaurants. However, is it ethical to keep living creatures in such poor living conditions for the weeks they have before they're slaughtered?
ReplyDeleteWhile poultry farms can and do in fact distribute a lot of chicken to buyers, there are in fact many more drawbacks to the way that these chickens are grown and the effect that their meat has on the consumers. A common chicken farm typically consists of 3 to 10 sheds, each containing 60,000 birds in each one. That averages out to around 320,000 chickens per farm. This many birds living so close together and in unsanitary living conditions is perfect for disease to spread, and due to such close quarters diseases spread very quickly. To prevent this from happening, chemicals, antibiotics and hormones are added to the chicken feed, such as Roxarsone. Roxarsone, is a chemical used to increase growth, kill parasites and improve the pigmentation of the meat, however studies have shown that a trace of Roxarsone still remains present after the animal has already been killed and packaged. While this chemical has no immediate health risks and is approved by the FDA, research still shows that it isn't as healthy as free-range chicken and that there have been documented cases of unnatural growth and medical defects connected to the hormones and chemicals found in the chicken that was consumed. While it's cheaper to manufacture large scale chicken farms, it also brings with it some potential health warnings such as the prevalent diseases discovered among birds and the use of chemicals in the feed. Another drawback of chicken farms are the negative environmental impacts that are a result of the operation. The large scale mass slaughters leave behind decomposing carcusses, diseases, bacteria, viruses, parasites, heavy metals, chemicals and even feces which heavily contributes to the pollution of the air, condimatated water sources and degrading land. This mass dump of waste impacts has shown to have further health implications, such as lung cancer and methemoglobinemia. Finally, the third drawback is the inhuman and downright cruel way of treating the birds. For the 6 weeks before their death they undergo unsanitary and cramped living conditions, diseases and many more abuses.
I personally don't condone large scale poultry farms. When I buy chicken I prefer to buy free range as it doesn't contain antibiotics and chemicals. Another contributor to my decision is the way the chickens are raised. I don't condone the abuse of animals and therefore don't support a certain product by purchasing it. The availability of chicken has never truly bothered me as there are always other options in the rare scenario when a restaurant is out of poultry meat. In my opinion free range is the best way of raising chicken, and while it is in fact more expensive, my personal well being as well as fairer treatment of the chickens is a price I'm willing to pay.
Good points. What is your standard for ethical treatment of chickens?
DeleteI agree that it is worth it to purchase free-range chickens. The environmental impact, health impact on people living near farms, and cruelty to the birds is not acceptable.
DeleteI agree with the opinions you've stated. I believe those who are able to pay for the free-range chicken products should do so. We can make those products the ones in high demand, and lower those prices to make the better products less expensive.
DeleteI agree with you as I also want healthy chickens to eat.
DeleteI agree your point that free-range chicken is more healthy.
DeleteI agree with you as it's healthy for us to eat free-range chickens.
DeleteI agree it is healthier for both the chicken and humans. It also allows people to feel good about eating the chicken knowing it wasn't tortured for you.
DeleteI would also instead purchase free-range chickens, as I personally am into culinary, and in terms of the chicken quality, it is slightly better than the cheaper ones that are raised in such large scale farms. However, I still find it reasonable and understandable for anyone to buy the more affordable option of chickens raised in that kind of large scale farm. Most of the time, especially in cities such as Hong Kong, it is also challenging to find such more naturally raised or free-range meat for cooking, specifically free-range chicken for this case.
DeleteI think nowadays the world is more need “Artificially raised chicken” which is the chicken the can grow in 6 to 7 weeks, this kind of chicken can help the people that are hungry.
ReplyDeleteBy research, there are more than 820 million people often go to bed hungry, and about 135 million of them suffer from severe hunger, mainly due to human conflict, climate change, and economic recession. According to data from the World Food Program (WFP), the 2019 coronavirus pandemic may double this number, and by the end of 2020, another 130 million people will likely suffer severe hunger. This means that there may be more than 250 million people on the brink of starvation and death, so it is necessary to act quickly to provide food and humanitarian relief to areas at greatest risk. At the same time, there are currently 820 million hungry people, and it is expected that by 2050 the world will add 2 billion more people.
To provide them with nutrition, the global food and agricultural system must make profound changes, and this change is “Artificially raised chicken”, it has less cost and it just needs a shorter time to grow which is a benefit for the people that long time in the hunger, also it won't have the disadvantages of free-range chicken. Free-range chickens will eat the root and seed of grass, it will make that place never have grass again, also free-range chicken is more difficult to manage, and “Artificially raised chicken” is easier.
Base on these points I think that nowadays the world needs more “Artificially raised chicken”.
I think that it was a good point you made about humans being in hunger, and that ``Artificially raised chickens`` could help. Although boiler chickens are not the best quality of meat, they still provide a decent source of nutrition, and is a good and cheap option to prevent hunger.
DeleteI like about the idea of the kind of chicken can help the people that are hungry.
DeleteI think there are other ways to help people that are experiencing poverty and hunger. There are other cheaply priced foods with high nutritional value like beans, soups, wholegrain pasta and rice, oats, potatoes, tuna... the list goes on. We do not need to coop chickens up in the dark where they will peck each other to death, pollute the environment, poison people's water sources, and contract harmful diseases and bacteria like salmonella and campylobacter. Subjecting these poor animals, and the people and nature that live around farms to these horrid, inhumane conditions for the sake of having cheap meat is completely intolerable.
DeleteI agree with teya on this one, Steven had some well-thought out points and i respect his opinion but there are many other ways to feed the hungry- the whole process of artificial chicken slaughtering is unhealthy, not only for the chicken but also for the consumer AND the environment.In my opinion, there are just too many negatives.
DeleteSteven, I think you're being a bit reactive on this issue. Rather I would solve this problem by being to proactive to solve the hunger issue first which is caused by poverty and such. It would take a tremendous time, but feeding people artificially raised chicken will keep people poor.
DeleteI agree, there are so many people that go to bed hungry and the chicken is lower in price but I also agree with Teya and Ashley that there are so many other options for food.
DeleteI agree, with all the growing population, there is an increasing demand for cheap and reliable resources. However when a resource has been proven to actual do more harm than good, is it as reliable as we thought?
DeletePosted on behalf of Zoey:
DeleteYour totally right about the artificial ingredients, it’s very hard to find food that has no colour or artificial ingredients in it.
Humans need high-quality animal protein. Artificially raising chickens is a relatively effective and convenient way with less environmental pollution. In the 18th century, the total population of the world was less than 1 billion, and the average adult height was only 1.67 meter. The main reason is malnutrition caused by insufficient animal protein intake.
DeletePersonally, I think that the concept of raising Boiler Chickens for meat is ethical. This to me is just another chicken that is being raised for meat purposes, it is in the order they do it which concerns me. In Canadian chicken farms, chickens get fed mainly (over 85%) grain and grain by-products, protein-producing seeds, and meal and from ingredients such as canola or soybean meal, according to Chicken Farmers.ca. While free-range chickens from my research eat whatever they find outside, such as bugs and grass to stay lean. Free-range chickens are bread this way to be lean and not get over fed, and by these chickens staying outside they get exercise to gain muscle which makes for good quality meat. However, I think that if chickens are going to be raised for meat consumption this process should be done in a way which benefits the chickens and us. By having all of these boiler chickens eating, and eating makes them grow and they begin to have less room to move around in farm, leaving them with less exercise, which is not good for chicken health or ours. In the way in which chickens are raised affects our health in the way of eating chicken that contains lots of fat, this would occur if the chicken was not healthy. Overall, I just think that if chickens are going to be raised it should be done in a way in which the quality of meat is good and chickens are not completely miserable while getting brought up. In my opinion, free-range chicken are the best option for the reasons of chickens having the ability to feel free of captivity of a large farm with may other chickens and in the end their meat will be better quality since they have been brought up in a good manner and treated well.
ReplyDeleteFree-range chickens are definitely the better option. Not only are they happier, as you have mentioned, the meat is better quality and healthier for human consumption. Free range chickens also have very little risk of contracting salmonella and campylobacter, which can cause sickness to humans. I agree that it's not unethical to raise chickens so that we can eat them, but there has to be much higher standards on their feed and living conditions so that both the chickens and the people who will eat them can be happier and healthier.
DeleteI don't really understand Teya's idea of how do you make chicken that will be eat happy and how do you know that chicken is happy?
DeleteI agree chicken boilers are unethical and they need higher standers but the point of raising chickens to eat is ethical. Some people say that fatty chicken is better but I agree it's not as healthy for you. Chickens should be able to gain a bit of muscle and a space to move.
DeleteI agree with the your point about the farms disregarding the chicken's well being. I also agree that free range chicken are not only raised more ethically, but the meat is also better due to the exercise that these chicken do.
DeletePoultry farming in the United States involves over 233,000 locations. Over 8.54 billion broilers are produced each year through this industry, along with approximately 100 billion eggs and over 20 billion chickens. There are approximately 23 billion chickens on earth right now. The Fast Food Fried Chicken restaurant KFC kills 850 million chickens per year and have slaughtered more than 1 billion chickens since the beginning. The legs and wings of the chickens are often broken due to the pathetic treatment and the throats of the chicken are slit and put into hot water to remove the feathers. Have humans ever thought about how it is like to be a chicken? We only think it as a meal. But take a minute to think how it is like. The Ethical Dilemma informed us that when the chickens first arrive, the lighting is bright so the chicks can find the food and water, so it encourages eating and rapid growth. Then, the lighting is dimmed in order to prevent fighting between the chickens. The birds have little space in which to move. The fact that everyone almost die out of boringness during the 14 days quarantine in a room, then think about how chickens stay in a little space for its entire life.The space gets smaller as the chickens grow. I just think that chickens should get raised better than this. As a teen, when I go to fast food restaurant with friends, I usually just order the most common one on the menu, or just buy free range. I believe chickens should get raised better than this. They don't live that long, so we should treat them well and give them more space.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your points. We need so show some respect for the lives of these animals that we eat. It is highly unethical to keep these birds crammed together in disgustingly dirty cages.
DeleteI like that you have compared this to the current isolation situation due to the virus. Although our conditions are not nearly as poor, I think this is a creative perspective to get people thinking about the lives of broiler chickens.
Completely agree with both Justin and Teya on their comments, the way these broiler chickens are living is completely cruel-bad for the chicken, the consumer, the environment etc. We need to change our perspective on the animals well-being, healthiness for the chickens and consumer is worth the extra cost.
DeleteI like how into perspective us as humans as chickens. We would not like that at all, especially being a boiler chicken. Personally I would not be able to stand being stuck in a room with roughly 30,000 other living beings for the rest of my life. The room would get too hot and smelly, we should truly think more about how these processes have an affect on chickens.
DeleteSo what's the difference between the slaughtered chicken and the one kept in the dirty cages. If they are kept in dirty cages and a bad environment isn't a relief for the chickens to be slaughtered just like euthanasia to pets when they're sick. Compared to good environment and well taken care of, slaughtered them now is kind of wrong because they are living a good life.
DeleteI don't agree with abusing chickens and not respecting them, but this is just a thought.
I agree, free range chickens are the healthier way to go for the the animal itself and us as well. Maybe they can find a way for the slaughter house chickens to have a healthy lifestyle without costing a lot.
DeleteI agree that the abuse some of the broiler chickens go through is not ethical and should not take place.
DeleteI agree with your points. It's very unethical to leave chickens in controlled, unsanitary and claustrophobic environments. I also agree with your point that you made regarding thinking deeper about the simple KFC meal your eating, and not thinking of it as just a meal.
Deleteposted on behalf of Zoey:
DeleteIt’s really good that you put personal information in your argument, I agree fully with your response.
I believe and understand which it would be obvious wherein the ideal perspective, more of such animals will suffer less in terms of the treatment towards them from humans. However, I believe it is improbable and unnecessary to prevent such matter, as in this case, explicitly providing a superior daily living condition for chickens, a source of food we heavily rely on daily, therefore, the need of able to offer a large amount of such food efficiently to the population is also essential, despite the depressing fact of suffering from chickens.
ReplyDeleteMy ethical treatment standards towards chickens are the concept of free-range chickens, where such could roam in open pastures. I also believe most importantly, it is the method and process of slaughtering the chickens. Instead of unrealistically suggesting all poultry farms should provide chickens more spaces, providing a more ethical way of slaughtering seems like a more possible and practical thing to do. According to the National Chicken Council, chickens are electronically stunned before they are slaughtered; therefore, be painless. However, sadly again, the standard practices make it impossible to ensure all chickens are unconscious before slaughter, the food safety agency from the EU told.
I believe that more should acknowledge the importance of people having the options to choose from, especially pricing, and understanding to also think and view of the effects or results actions could bring, as not everyone has the privilege or wealth most of us do to afford the most basic, however, more superior version of the same food in terms of quality, or free-range chicken in this case, which could result in more issues of hunger and malnourishment as currently already millions of lives could not afford food, and are suffering. Therefore, I believe it is essential to maintain the availability of inexpensive chickens, which, unfortunately, sustaining such as low-cost, will continue the cruelty.
As I stated in a previous comment, there are other nutritious foods with low prices for people suffering from hunger. We do not need to cause harm to chickens for the sake of cheap meat. It is unnecessary to continue the operation of large scale chicken farms.
DeleteI agree with your points on the slaughtering of chickens. I feel like that part is thought about less than farming, and it definitely has a lot of significance. Hopefully the standards will be changed so that all chickens are able to be killed humanely.
I think that the farming of broiler chickens is highly unethical and completely unacceptable. All farms should be free range. A typical chicken farm has over 22,000 chickens stuffed together inside a dark shed. The birds often peck each other to death from confusion, fear, and discomfort. Their feces and urine is not cleaned, and so the air quality and conditions of the sheds are extremely unsanitary, and many chickens contract or die from diseases and bacteria. Some of these, like salmonella and campylobacter, can be transferred to humans and cause sickness, even hospitalization or death to the very young, immunocompromised, and elderly. Some farm conditions are so poor that 1000 pounds of chickens die each day in the farm. Sometimes they are not removed and left to rot.
ReplyDeleteLarge chicken farming operations produce a large amount of waste, usually around 3.2 million pounds of raw waste and millions of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus, which is such amounts are toxic to the environment. This waste is often just dumped, which poisons ecosystems on every level by contaminating soil, which contaminates worms, grass and plants, which kills smaller animals, and then larger animals. Many farms are located near rivers, and has the potential contaminate the wells and water sources of people living nearby. It also creates algae and kills aquatic plant and animal life. Chicken feces contains many heavy metals as well, which are contain carcinogens and can cause cancer due to excessive inhalation.
Commercial, large farm grown chickens are given antibiotics to try and prevent disease that they get from their dirty environment. They are also often given growth promoters or growth hormones to make them grow and become fat more quickly. These antibiotics and hormones are not very healthy for people, especially if there are larger traces of them left in the meat.
Free-range chickens live much happier lives. They are allowed to roam in large fields, and their waste is disposed of with the natural process, which promotes grass growth and soil quality instead of the toxicity of dumping large amounts disease infested manure. Free-range chickens are also raised without antibiotics, and are not given growth promoters so that they can develop muscle instead of fat. They are healthier and happier, and the people who eat them will be as well.
I agree with the points you've made here. I believe that people need to consider what's best for the chickens as well as for us. People should make the decision to not consume chicken products or only those that are free-range.
DeleteI agree with you. People should also consider how do chickens feel.
DeleteUnited poultry concerns says “U.S. slaughterhouses now kill more than 30 million birds every day or 10 billion birds a year (NASS). This carnage pollutes land, air, and water with diseased carcasses, feces, heavy metals, chemicals, bacteria, parasites, pathogen cysts, and viruses.”
ReplyDelete“In poultry factory farming, thousands of birds are crammed unnaturally into extremely small areas. Filth, ugliness and disease are the reason that states have dwindling land to absorb the volume of poultry-house litter, dead birds, carcusses and feces, including the huge consumption of fossil fuels.” It is also obvious that this imposes intense cruelty on the animals during this lifespan.
My opinion is that free range chickens are healthier for the chicken, environment and the consumer. The extra cost is worth this level of humane treatment of animals.
I agree that the extra cost is worth the betterment of animal lives. Supply and demand is one of the biggest issues to consider. Because of competition in pricing and the accessibility of unhealthier products, the healthiest options are more expensive. We need to make the decision to buy the most environmentally friendly products if we are able to, in order to make the best products more available and affordable to the public.
DeleteI agree, free range chickens are the healthier way to go for the the animal itself and us as well. Maybe they can find a way for the slaughter house chickens to have a healthy lifestyle without costing a lot.
DeleteI agree free- range chickens are better meat and better for the chickens. The chicken farms are non environmentally friendly and the chickens aren't raised right. I think there has to be another way for chicken farms to protect the environment and the chickens health will keeping costs lower.
DeleteI agree with the point you've made. I also believe that the extra price is worth paying, as supporting free range not only benefits the chickens, but also the enviroment and communities unlucky enough to live close to these large scale chicken farms.
DeleteI agree that the free range chickens are healthier for the environment and consumer.
DeleteThere will always be two sides to every story. In this situation surrounding the ways chickens are treated before they are killed, I am on the side of free range. As much as I would like there to be only one way to kill chickens I know it will never happen. There would be too many arguments around the world about the chicken being raised in price. Fast food places are a popular spot to go and have a bite to eat when you're in a rush or stay there to have a full meal. Their prices are so low compared to restaurants because of the meat they bring in. Not only the chicken, but all of the meat comes from a slaughterhouse. The chickens in the slaughterhouse are tortured their whole life before being killed a cruel way. They get no access to the outdoors and the only light they get is when they are forced to eat fast because they need to bulk up before being killed after 6-8 weeks. There is no room in the slaughterhouse for exercise so the meat on their body is changed causing it to taste different. Chickens that are raised in a free range way have a much healthier lifestyle. They are outside for the full day, exposed to natural sunlight and food causing them to be healthy. They also get much more exercise outside rather than kept in a small room with a ton of other chickens. The only time they come inside a room is at night after a full day of exercise. This way they can stay alive and safe from the predators outside at night. For many people it is a problem to get the healthier meat because it’s priced higher so they often choose the meat from slaughterhouses or when you're living on the streets you can not go out and buy chicken for you to cook, you have to go to a fast food restaurant because it’s what you can afford. I’m not saying take away the meat from slaughterhouses because it can cause multiple problems but I’m sure there's ways that the chickens can be healthier without raising the price. Maybe this includes more space, or a few hours of natural light. Meat chickens should be raised better, they have a short life so it doesn’t hurt them to treat them nicer and the community would love that because it’s us that continue to buy the same meat.
ReplyDeleteI like how you include that some people cannot afford to cook chicken and must resort to fast food which is generally broiler chicken.
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ReplyDeleteA survey conducted by the National Chicken Council, showed that nine out of ten people buy chicken routinely. The rate of chicken consumption continues to increase, as does the demand for that product (link below). People want their chicken to be cheap and easily accessible. Farmers have to meet those demands in order to continue to receive profit and to keep their business going. If more people are able and willing to pay extra money for their chicken and purchase the pasture raised, free-range chicken products, then those products will be the ones in demand. The ones who can buy those products should consider all the health and environmental benefits that would come from purchasing and consuming the free-range chicken products.
ReplyDeleteChickens that are not free-range are farmed in incredibly cramped spaces. They live an unnaturally short life filed with disease and suffocation. Thirty million birds are killed every day and the waste that comes from their captivity and slaughter causes suffering for more than just the animals. The food the chickens consume contains high levels of an arsenic compound (used to make the meat more of a pink colour and to make the chickens grow faster) which can be extremely harmful and toxic to humans and animals alike. It has been known to cause many different forms of cancer as well as partial paralysis. Most of the antibiotic is assumed to be excreted, but there is currently no known research as to how much of the arsenic is consumed by the humans who eat the chickens. In addition, the chicken waste that contains the antibiotic and other toxic materials will often end up polluting underground water and streams. I disagree with the methods used on the chickens.
I strongly believe that the chickens need to be treated humanely. The solution is complicated when considering the poverty and the desire for convenience that continues to grow in our world. I believe that educating people on the healthiest and most environmentally safe options at their stores is the best solution to this problem. The people who are able to buy those products, will be encouraged to do so. If they do, then those will be the products in demand, and therefore, the products with competition in pricing. They will become cheaper, and their accessibility will increase. This would decrease the amount of farms for broiler chickens, and decrease the suffering the unfortunate chickens have had to endure for far too long.
Link for chicken consumption statistics:
https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2018/07/26/US-chicken-still-high-in-demand
There is no way of serving the need of so many without coming of sacrifices such as chickens. Although I prefer free range, it is hard for non free range chicken providers to take care of so many chickens without surrendering the ethics of the chickens. This situation is seen all over our daily lives. The school dining hall breakfast eggs tastes like rubber, but we can't blame them as it is very hard to serve eggs to so many students while reserving the original taste of the eggs that came out fresh.
DeleteIt is important to me that I know that my chicken wasn't abused or given chemicals. However, in other cases, people only care that the chicken ends up in their mouth. So is it ok for people to think like that? Absolutely, if they don't care about their own health being and the chicken's.
In food restaurants the chicken is cheap and likely unhealthy, but that's not mainly what makes fast food unhealthy. Although what chicken is used is important, what type of oil is used to cook them with is also critical. According to research, 69% of restaurants in NOrth America use corn oil, which is the most harmful oil to the human body.
I think chicken should be at large in free range farms, but still having some non free range farmed chickens. Due to the fact that there's people that want cheap chicken that they don't care about and just matter when its on the plate. And that fast food restaurants buy cheap chicken, if they use better oil, I think fast food would be might healthier.
This was meant to be my own comment not a comment to Katelyn^
DeleteYou have come at this a different way but i like it. Your points make sense and your fact that the oil we cook them in and not the chicken it self is interesting.
DeleteI agree with Miles about how fast food restaurants use better oil; it may not be as unhealthy for you as it is. You also have good points about You want to know that your chicken wasn't abused or given chemicals when it was getting raised. you had lots of good points.
DeleteAs our global population continues to rapidly increase, so does the need for more affordable and reliable food sources. Chicken farms provide one such example of a large distributor. To facilitate quick and mass distribution of meat for markets, superstores and restaurants, large, windowless sheds are created to raise thousands of birds in close quarters. However, is it ethical to keep living creatures in such poor living conditions for the weeks they have before they're slaughtered?
ReplyDeleteThere are many drawbacks to these chicken farms. For example, each animal’s growth is affected by the tight space they are placed in and the food they are given. Broiler chickens normally live very spread out from each other, however at these chicken farms there are about 60,000 birds per shed. This many birds living in such close corners can result in very unsanitary living conditions. The food that the farmers are providing therefore require chemicals, antibiotics and hormones to help artificially stimulate growth and prevent the spread of disease.
Chicken farms have a very negative impact on the environment as well. The large scale mass slaughters leave behind decomposing carcusses, diseases, bacteria, viruses, parasites, heavy metals, chemicals and even feces. These all contribute to the pollution of the air, contaminate water sources and degrade land. The fact that these farms continue to exist simply speak to their lower overall cost and increased profits.
I know that I would much prefer to eat a free range chicken than one from a large scale poultry farm. An animal pumped with chemicals and bacteria is less appealing to eat and may have long term consequences for our own health. Despite higher resultant costs, the ethical treatment of animals, lower impact on our environment, and fewer unnatural chemical products are all excellent reasons to help support free range farming!
I agree that despite the higher costs, there are many reasons why we should support free range farming.
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ReplyDeleteI agree, I think the pros of free range chickens out way the cost by a lot. The pros and cons being free range chickens get exercise which builds the muscle tissue we eat and like you said free range chickens are not "pumped with chemicals" but free range chickens cost more.
DeleteThe idea of raising broiler chickens is to produce massive amounts of meat in short periods of time for the lowest cost. What is not considered is the quality of meat being produced, the environmental impact of raising broiler chickens, and the ethical treatment of broiler chickens.
ReplyDeleteThere are many flaws in the broiler chicken system. Environmental impact is a huge one. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, poultry litter - the mixture of fecal droppings, antibiotic residues, heavy metals, cysts, larvae, decaying carcasses, and sawdust the birds are forced to bed in - has 4 times the nitrogen and 24 times the phosphorous (Allison C7) (United Poultry Concerns). “When too much nitrogen and phosphorus enter the environment, the air and water can become polluted. Nutrient pollution has impacted many streams, rivers, lakes, bays and coastal waters for the past several decades, resulting in serious environmental and human health issues, and impacting the economy.” (United States Environmental Protection Agency)
The environmental impact from the poultry litter (nutrient pollution) is polluting bodies of water. The free-range chickens have more muscle mass from being able to move around all day, while “A 5-lb bird gets only 0.8 square ft of floor space” (United Poultry Concerns), which is not enough space to get exercise and gain muscle mass. The muscle of the chicken is what we eat. Raising chickens with more muscle mass means we can utilize as much of the chicken as we can, waste as little as possible, and create less pollution.
The phosphorus and nitrogen pollution being created by poultry litter is also impacting the economy. One can argue that in the long run, these chicken farms are going to negatively impact the economy. While providing cheaper options of raising and buying chicken, the money saved might be spent on trying to fix the issues the poultry litter has caused.
Another issue caused by nutrient pollution is human health issues. Millions of people in the United States use ground water as their drinking source and nutrient pollution in this water can be very harmful. In addition to the nitrogen and phosphorous, the nitrogen can produce more pollutants such as ammonia and ozone, which can make it difficult to breathe, limit visibility, and alter plant growth.
Overall, raising free-range chickens is more beneficial because it isn’t as harmful to the environment, we are able to utilize more of the chicken, it doesn’t cause human health issues, the chickens are raised naturally, and they have space to roam just like chickens should.
It is important to me how chickens are raised because that can determine the quality of chicken that I am buying. I also do not support raising broiler chickens and all the effects that has on the world, so I would rather buy free-range raised chickens for that reason, too. The prices of chicken will skyrocket if we impose free-range chicken rules, but then we would be paying for quality over quantity. I personally would rather pay extra knowing that the quality is better than pay less for a higher quantity but of lower quality.
My standard for ethical treatment of chickens is that they should be treated with respect humanely as a being, not as an object. A 5-pound bird should not be confined to 0.8 square feet to live in, that is not humane treatment of a being.
Chicken farms are ethical is a hard topic. The point of putting these animals in a boiler with no space to move and only food and water is unethical. The fact is that animals are living creators and should be treated right. Chicken farms produce around 21,000 cubic yards of a manure a year. The manure from the chicken farms aren't natural like free range chickens. The chicken manure is filled with chemicals that are bad for the environment. Free range chicken manure can be used for fertilizer but chicken farm manure can’t be used. So while the chicken farms are hurting the chickens and the manure is harmful to the environment. Although they have many negative factors one positive is that they help the economy. Chicken farms produce a ton of chicken for the community and this can definitely help the economy. So chicken farms aren’t ethical and the fact is they are more harmful than helpful. I do think we need them still but there has to be a better way.
ReplyDeleteYou have made some good points here and I agree with yours that we need them but that there has to be a better way.
DeleteI think the way we are treating these animals is unethical, but we need it in some form. The average Canadian makes about $52 600 a year, although that sounds like a lot of money with most other expenses it isn't. The issue I see isn't wether it is wrong to have theses animals locked up like that, it is how can we keep having affordable food for everyone without putting these animals in the awful conditions that they are in.
ReplyDeleteThere are many farmers who raise chickens is a way that keeps that happy and healthy. Most of the time these famers don't produce as many chickens so the price of them goes up. Majority of Canadians can't afford the amount that these famers are asking for their chicken. I think that if you can afford to buy these chickens or other meets that you should. It will keep these good farmers in business and you are also getting better meat.
What are these famers doing that a farmer with more chickens can't? Space, these big domes that these chickens are being held in are massive so if you are a chicken farmer why do you need to keep them closed in? I think that these famers who are have these chickens in awful conditions like these need to figure what things they can adapt that won't cost them too much more to make these chickens lives better.
I agree with you the free range chickens are more ethical even though they cost money. I think there is something we can do to produce just as much meat but in a more ethical way
DeleteI agree that if you can afford Look better chicken you should get it So it keeps the farmers in business like you said and you're just in general getting better quality meat.
DeleteI think that the concept of raising Boiler Chickens for meat is ethical. Nowadays people are having a fast-paced life. So boiler chickens are more desirable. Because people at work don’t have much time for their breakfast or lunch, most of them they will rather choose to eat at McDonalds or KFC whose chickens are all boiler chickens. This to me is just another chicken that is being raised for meat purposes, it is in the order they do it which concerns me.While poultry farms can and do in fact distribute a lot of chicken to buyers, there are in fact many more drawbacks to the way that these chickens are grown and the effect that their meat has on the consumers. Many birds living so close together and in unsanitary living conditions is perfect for disease to spread, and due to such close quarters diseases spread very quickly. To prevent this from happening, chemicals, antibiotics and hormones are added to the chicken feed, such as Roxarsone. Roxarsone, is a chemical used to increase growth, kill parasites and improve the pigmentation of the meat, however studies have shown that a trace of Roxarsone still remains present after the animal has already been killed and packaged. It’s very unhealthy to human’s body.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points on poultry farms, but I think free range chickens are a better idea although they might cost more. Free range chickens build the muscle tissue we eat because of the exercise they get and have a lower risk of salmonella.
DeleteTo me it is not all that important how the chickens are raised because I'm not an animal Enthusiast or something like that. The only reason why I would care how the chickens are raised is because I eat them but other than that it doesn't really matter to me how the chickens are raised.
ReplyDeleteI probably care more about the inexpensive chicken from the supermarket than the chicken for my favourite fast food place. I care more about the chicken in the supermarket because I eat chicken from the supermarket way more than they eat fast food. That's why it's more important to me.
I say the best life you can give to a chicken is to let it baby it's full 6 years of life and not have to live in a barn with 30,000 other chickens having a chicken coop for them where it's not that many chickens in this small space. After they live their life then you can take them for their meat.
But this is impractical to let a chicken live for 6 years and then kill it because you would spend more money on raising it than selling its meat.
DeleteI eat chicken as well, but the upbringing of all chickens is important to me because it is inhumane to raise chickens the way broiler chickens are raised and the treatment of broiler chickens can affect the quality of meat. I agree that raising chickens in a small space is not ethical because they are not living the life they were made to live. Also, we are not able to eat as much of the broiler chickens' meat as we are the free-range chickens' because we eat the muscle tissue of the chicken, so we are less wasteful and more resourceful when we raise free-range chickens. Broiler chickens are not able to develop good muscle tone as they are not able to exercise much in the small space that they are confined to, whereas the free-range chickens are building muscle tone from moving while foraging for natural foods.
DeleteI find that the way chickens are raised on mass production farms is very disturbing, being in cramped, dark, and hot farms is no place for any animal and it is sad to hear about the way chickens are treated. On the other side there are free-range chickens which means that the chickens are free roaming and spend their days out in their natural habitat building muscle tissue (which we eat). According to the website Diffen “Outdoor access reduces stress and aggressive behaviors; most males killed immediately upon hatching; better nutrition via natural/wild foods like worms; higher incidence of disease, bacterial infections and parasites” and free range chicken has a lower chance of Salmonella and Cholesterol whereas caged chickens have a higher chance. Free range chickens provide a healthier option while also giving the chickens a life of a wild animal, although it is more pricey than the caged chicken. Also, instead of un- ethically producing chicken as fast as possible why not have a heather option while knowing that animals are being treated right as well. When it comes to availability I personally don't need chicken everyday, so I would rather have free range chicken in super markets and fast food restaurants because free range is better quality and why not have the best when you choose to eat chicken. I believe all animals should have the basic rights like life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, but I also think if needed animals could be killed but only for food.
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ReplyDeleteAny animal must be treated with respect and care. Animals clearly exist for human consumption due to the way they are fed and treated. It is not the same to consume a product treated with antibiotics and hormones and that one died suffering than a well fed and well cared for animal.
In this case, free-range chickens are healthier for our consumption due to the treatment and food they receive. Free-range chickens are not given antibiotics and are allowed to roam freely, rather than living in crowded and very dirty spaces.
I agree and I like that you talk about treating animals with respect and care.
DeleteI think it is important for both ends of the conversation to be safe. I think that farmers should have a cap for the amount of chickens allowed in a certain space otherwise it becomes too much about profit and not enough about the chickens living its very short life in inhumane conditions. I also think people who protest these things should be safe before they go and do something silly to try and prove a point.
ReplyDeleteYou make good points and I also agree that there should be a limit to how many chickens should be allowed in the same living space.
DeleteI agree that it becomes too much about the profit and not about the chickens lives.
DeleteI've honestly never thought about how chickens in specific are being raised, but I think that on this topic all living creatures deserve to be raised with freedom. There are so many people like me that haven't thought about or cared how these chickens have been raised, but maybe we should. Chicken is one of the main meats we eat and is usually found in all sorts of fast food restaurants and grocery stores and I guess one of the reasons why we don't like to think about the life of the chicken we are eating is because we don't like to think that we took away another life so that we could provide nutrients for our own. It's not that we don't care about the chickens life, but that we haven't taken the time to think about the chicken's life. I would also say that I care more about the availability of chicken from grocery stores being that those are most likely free range chickens, so not only do they accordingly taste better than broiler chickens, but they also had a better life being able to live in an open pasture rather than being stuck in an enclosed or tight space. Though for many fast food restaurants I think that broiler chickens are easier to buy to be able to produce the of the meals made with chicken. Before reading this article I had no ethical standard for chickens, but after reading this article it reminds me of bulls and bullfighting. At a time bullfighting was something that they wanted to be completely eliminated because it was felt to be very unethical to slaughter a bull in a bullfight. The other side to this is that with the bullfighting business there were jobs that came with it. Not only do restaurants get the bull meat, there is the butcher, there are the individuals who run the market, and the people who raise the bulls for the bullfights. There is this whole industry that we need to take into account. Suddenly they can't have anymore bullfights, the industry of bulls gets completely shut down. There was usually several years before the bulls were sent to any bullfights therefor in my opinion, if the bull was treated with respect and treated properly without being hurt or mistreated I don't think that there is a problem with that. After reading this article I think that my ethical standards for treatment of chickens should be to give them that freedom of living on an open field and eating natural. My standard like I said before for all living creatures is to be treated in the best way possible.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you mention the bull-fighting industry and you raise a good point when you talk about all of the jobs that came with that. Do you think that the broiler chicken industry could improve the way they raise their chickens while still keeping their employees or potentially creating more jobs?
DeletePosted on behalf of Zoey:
ReplyDeleteI love animals, there a huge part in our lives and our environment. I believe that the chickens are getting no chance to live before they have to be prepared to die. Chicken is also a popular meal for us, about 55 million chickens are eaten each day in our whole population. I also believe that the chickens might not be as nice as they could be within the 6-7 weeks and they need a bit more time to grow. Compare fresh chicken to your local fast food restaurant, depending on what your feeling but the chicken would be the healthiest option and probably the most tasty also. Chicken that comes from fast food restaurants go through geese and added on ingredients like salt. If you were to buy your chicken from a supermarket it comes exactly fresh and you can add some spices in you wanted. After you eat the fresh chicken you would also feel a lot better about your self or unless you chose the fast food option. I absolutely dislike the idea of what they do to chickens when they do what they do to them. There is no love to the chickens when they kill them. I feel so bad for the chickens and what they have to go through. They have no idea what there in for when they go to the preparation group.
I agree with you that although the poultry industry is very cruel towards the animals, it is still considerably understandable in some cases in terms of minimizing the price and increasing the constant availability of such food to the public. However, sometimes people have to really see the live situation with their own eyes, as you mentioned the poor living conditions chickens are in, to truly feel decide within themselves whenever or not they personally think it is acceptable.
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