to think that you can't watch this and still want to buy eggs?

[Tollund]

Just to follow on from my epic veggie thread last week - it got me thinking and doing a bit more research and I stumbled across this .

It made me sob, I mean it's really upset me. I've stopped buying eggs from the supermarket about 6 months ago and just get free range from the farmer's market now, but having seen this I think I can only get them from a woman up the road who has a some of chickens and sells anything she has left over. I'd really like to keep chickens myself but we don't have the space at the moment unfortunately.

AIBU to think that you can't not rethink what you do after seeing that?

Mincing alive appears barbaric to onlookers, yes, but is actually a far more instant death to the chick, so IMO preferable.
The HSA (humane slaughter association) has rules and regulations on both gassing and mechanical slaughter, but it seems it is easier to deviate from those when it comes to gassing, as it is still legal to use 100% carbon dioxide, which causes pain and distress.
There are several documents out there that claim that instant slaughter is more preferable to gassing, as while the gassing looks more humane, it can actually cause more suffering.

Farmed chickens are replaced at approx 72 weeks, when they reach their first moult. They lose feathers and stop laying.
When they start laying again, it's very common for chickens (all chickens, not just intensively farmed chickens) to lay sporadically, and lay odd shaped eggs. Odd shaped eggs are not acceptable because the consumer (not the farmer) has voted with their feet and selected perfectly shaped eggs. (this also applies to fruit and veg)
Keeping chickens beyond this point would be financially unviable, and when it comes to it, the farmer is in business, not running a charity. If chickens were routinely kept past the moult, there would not be enough eggs produced to satisfy demand.

Humane Slaughter - there's an oxymoron if ever there was one.