http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201204/baby-chicks-used-packing-filler
|
By Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. on April, 23, 2012 in Animal Emotions
Ideal Poultry Breeding Farms heartlessly and shamefully uses baby chicks as packing peanuts. Many arrive dead in the packages into which they
were stuffed. Read More
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, Ideal Poultry Breeding Farms is no different from other hatcheries in shipping baby roosters as packing material to buyers of
backyard hens and other customers. Here is more information about the shipping of baby chicks and ducklings and how the trend of urban
chicken-keeping is an extension of factory farming.
Shipping day-old chicks is cruel:
Most chickens purchased are bought from hatcheries or feed stores (feed store chicks originate from hatcheries). Hatcheries ship day-old birds
through the postal service without any legal oversight. Young chickens are deprived of food and water for up to 72 hours and exposed to extreme
temperatures. As Dr. Jean Cypher, a veterinarian specializing in avian medicine states, "A day-old chick can no more withstand three days in a
dark crowded box than can any other newborn." Other experts in avian medicine and behavior agree that transporting day-old chicks in boxes for
the first 24-72 hours of life is cruel and medically detrimental to the birds. See, for example:
www.upc-online.org/transport/71408shippingbirds.html.
Chicken sexing is more art than science:
Using data collected from sanctuaries and rescues that field calls daily about unwanted chickens, we estimate between 20-50% of purchased
"hens" are actually roosters. Depending on breed, visually identifying a rooster can take weeks to months.
Roosters may be unwanted and are often illegal:
Male chickens are generally unwanted for two reasons: They don't produce eggs and they are rarely legal in urban or suburban settings. Hatcheries may use rooster chicks as packing material, regardless of whether they were ordered. Most incorporated or urban regions that
do permit chickens allow only hens, not roosters. Unwanted roosters may be abandoned to the streets, slaughtered, or end up in a municipal
shelter to be killed. Very few find their way into a permanent home or sanctuary.
For more information, see
Coalition of Animal Sanctuaries Craft Policy Statement on Urban Chicken-Keeping
in www.upc-online.org/backyard.