The Cruelty of Egg Production

Only female chickens lay eggs, and since the breed of egg-laying chickens is totally different from that of bulked-up broiler chickens, male chicks are useless to the egg industry. So they are gassed, crushed, discarded in trash bags to suffocate, or simply piled one on top of another, to die from dehydration or asphyxiation. They have it easy compared to female chicks.

While many countries are banning the battery cage system because of its inherent cruelty, egg producers in the United States still cram hens into small, wire cages for their entire lives.

These hens spend their days unable to engage in nearly any of their natural habits, like perching, nesting, dust-bathing, foraging, roaming, or even flapping their wings. Frustrated and overcrowded, the birds often attack each other. To reduce the impact of stress-induced aggression, soon after the chicks are born, parts of their beaks are seared off with a hot blade without painkillers. Debeaking causes them both acute and chronic pain.

When their egg production declines, “spent” hens are killed and sent to rendering plants as their flesh is too battered to even go into canned soup.