I work in a chicken factory. AMA!

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

Anything you might’ve wanted to know about what really goes on in a chicken processing factory I might be able to tell you! (I’ve only been there 6 weeks so I don’t know EVERYTHING. But I know a bit!)

I always buy free range. Is it worth it?

Do you pick up chicken that fallen in the floor and chuck it back in the production line?

Hell on earth- glad I am vegan!

Did you sing Barbie Girl on your X Factor audition?

Why does it emit that smell once a month or so? When I was growing up not that far from one there’d come an almighty stench over all the villages for a day or two every month. We always assumed it was cleaning day or something.

I've just cackled loudly!

Nope! Any chicken dropped on the floor goes into the Cat3 box (not for any kind of consumption, not even for pets) and is taken away with the offal. At the end of the day, I’m one of a handful who squeegees the machine troughs and the floor, any chicken dropped is shovelled into the Cat3 bin, it’s become ‘my’ job so I can say this with absolute certainty. My supervisor lost his shit on Friday because there was a ridiculous amount of perfectly good chicken dropped on the floor and it all had to go in the waste! It’s an instant dismissal if you’re caught putting it back on the line.

Me too

Has it made you less likely to eat chicken? Why did you take the job? Do you find people are weird and judgemental about it?

I saw something today that said not to buy chicken in a heatwave because the chickens die and then the alive chickens eat the dead chickens and they still get sold on. Any truth to that?

Has it put you off eating chicken?

Umm, well, our chickens are what you call ‘spent hens’ that are disposed of via us, when their laying career is over. Their eggs are a big “free range” brand but I’ve seen the state of the hens when they come in on the lorries. A lot of them have bald undercarriages and pale combs. They do not look very happy.

Ooh I’m not sure! Maybe the offal was being collected? I walked past the offal tanker on my first day. Thought I’d made a huge mistake but curiously, inside the factory does not smell whatsoever! (The kill room does though, like a barnyard smell mixed with blood)

Why do you want to work there? Are you aware of the higher rates of depression and suicide in abbatoir workers?

Nope! I get free lunch every day and most days it’s chicken! I know exactly where it’s been and what’s happened to it from the moment the bird arrived to the moment it was packed and sent to the kitchen. So if anything, I’m more likely to go for chicken 🤣

I took the job because I was desperate. I’d been searching for months and didn’t get even one interview so this was a last resort. No interview at all, just a factory tour and “Whoever’s in, come back Monday for induction”

No-one’s been judgemental to my face but I’m certain my in laws are all laughing at me behind by back while they enjoy their heavily discounted eggs and chicken I bring them back.

Well, I don’t know about that but last week when it was insanely hot, the killing was done by 12pm and we were leaving the factory by 1.30pm! It’s a huge welfare issue if any chickens die from being left in their crates in the sun for too long so we had minimal birds in last week so we could be done and dusted as early as possible. We have a vet on site at all times to ensure we stick to welfare guidelines (I don’t know them, I work in the packing and butchery department, I don’t deal with the live birds) and the company is susceptible to very heavy fines if birds die because they’ve been left in the sun for hours.

I don’t want to work there, it was a last resort.

I’m not an abattoir worker, not really. I don’t deal with the live birds, or immediately dead birds. By the time they reach my department they’re pretty much supermarket ready! No heads, feet, feathers and almost no innards (often there are bits that are missed so it’s not uncommon for hearts or stomachs to still be attached).

How's the pay? Do people stay long or is it a revolving door of workers?

Well, I'm sorry you're having to work in a job that doesn't sound congenial, but good for you for supporting your family. It's always easier to get work being in work, and you sound like you have a sense of humour and resilience.

Well I had my first full months pay today and it was £1800 basic, so when I have OT on there and bonuses from the skills I’m learning it should be more! So not bad at all to be honest.

It’s a mixture of staff tbh. Some of them have been there for decades, but there is still a high turnover because the work is repetitive and a lot of it is difficult. And it’s cold. One woman turned up, did a day and didn’t come back, apparently that’s quite common!

Oh gosh there’s this one woman who works there, she very openly despises the job. The other week I said to her “See you next week!” as she was going home, she turned around, pointed her finger at me and went “If you keep threatening me like that we’re gonna have a problem!” I didn’t stop laughing for about 5 minutes 😂 she’s absolutely lovely though. Rough around the edges but super nice and will always give you a hand with anything.

When I first started she was like “What the fuck have you come to work here for?! It was a shithole when I started and it’s still a shithole now!” 😂

I’m surprised actually that no-one has asked what actually happens inside from when the chickens first arrive up until the moment they’re packaged!

I usually buy chicken mini fillets as I found the usual chicken fillets very plumped up with water and tasteless, but I bought a 1kg pack of chicken fillets at the weekend....one fillets weighed 330g! It was huge! What kind of chicken walks about with 2 x 330g breasts???.
Are they mainly freak hormone stimulated mutant chickens these days ?

I don’t really know about the raising side of chickens so I’m not sure what they feed chickens who are raised for meat 🧐 Both kinds of birds we process are not raised for meat. They’re basically the by-product of eggs (which sounds awful wjen you say it like that but it’s true!). So although we do sell the meat and we can buy it ourselves, it’s not the best quality as the birds are old and a bit tough compared to meat birds.

We deal with two kinds of chickens- hens, which are sent to us at the end of their egg laying career, and are generally small birds, one breast is about as long as my palm and half the width. And we deal with breeders, breeders are birds that have been kept to raise the next generation of layer hens and they are fucking HUGE. I don’t know exactly how much a whole bird weighs but just one breast is about as big as my size 7 foot. Everyone hates working with breeders because everything to do with them is harder and heavier (except packing them. Boxes always weigh the same, no matter the bird type).