2 day old chicks (nasty warning)

[Smotheroffive]

...being crushed alive en masse!!

I know this from films shown in my DCs schools.

AIBU to be so shocked and upset about this, or wondering if enough people know and it doesn't even bother them, or perhaps have no idea this goes on.

I have always tried to buy free range eggs, and bacon, etc, but also organic assuming their standards of animal welfare would prefend such awful treatment of live young.

Does this happen routinely in organic farming too? surely not, or I think I might have to stop buying eggs! AIBU to consider doing that?

Firstly you need to now the source.

If PETA then it's probably well out of date (I know of one set of ictures they use that purport to be 'last year' but the man in them died in the mid 90s).

But I suspect your kids have seen the Australian video that has ben doing the rounds for the last 2 - 10 years. That is a nasty watch... but it is industry standard for killing male chicks in some countries - that and gassing them, how it is done in the UK

That is ALL parts of the industry. There are always enormous numbers of male chicks that need to be disposed of!

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/hatched-discarded-gassed-what-happens-to-male-chicks-in-the-uk-10088509.html

You can earn £40k a year as a chick sexer, can’t imagine it’s a very nice job either....
I’m sure I read that scientists had discovered a way of sexing chicks prior to hatching now so if it’s commercially viable then that might end the process. I’ve known about this for a long time though. Have used it to explain how mass farming of animals leads to very difficult and disturbing choices.
It’s not just the chicks that are the problem either.....

I am shocked that schools are doing this and not giving an accurate reflection of current farming methods to developing minds. How dare they lie to kids!?? It's a fuckin outrage, makes one wonder if they play so fast and free with everything.

Who decides that young minds are exposed to this bollox!?

I'm still confused as to why all the male chicks are killed so young, even if they are gassed humanely. Why don't they have a life as chickens until they are old enough?

It is horrible, at least some get used as animal feed.

confused as to why all the male chicks are killed so young

Male chicks don't lay eggs. And egg laying breeds of chicken aren't as good for eating. Therefore they are pretty useless as far as the food industry goes, so they dispose of them in the most efficient manner possible.

It’s not just the chicks that are the problem either .....
What does that mean Mari50 ? I don't see how chicks are a problem? Do you mean other cruel farming methods?

How is it a lie? The male chicks have to be disposed of one way or another. So long as they tell them where the video comes from I don’t see any issue. I remember watching something similar in philosophy class. The footage was forgein and not 100% representative of what went on in our country but It was more for getting a discussion about factory farming going than informing us of local industry standards. Eating eggs from shops is ethically questionable no matter where you do it.

She jeans that they are useless by products just like male/surplus calves in the dairy industry. Surely all this is obvious.

Ah yes, I see, but they can be used for supplying non human supply, pet food industry for instance, at least they could have a life!

Well no its not obvious, or I wouldn't be asking.

I know that male calves aren't killed this way,but maybe they are all used for veal, or does the same principle apply that they are not considered useful for farming because the breed is bred for milk?

So then what happens to them?

I think they often are used as pet food.

If they had a life wouldn't the cost of the end product increase? Someone would have to feed, nurture and house the cockerels until they entered the food chain. So many consumers want their food as cheap as possible.

I have five rescue hens, they were 18 months old when they were deemed to have served their purpose and were sent off to slaughter. Luckily the British Hen Welfare Trust steps in regularly and rehomes the girls. My hens have laid pretty much every day since they came to live here last Sept so I am not sure how they were judged to be past it, hens can live 5-7 years.

Male calves are sometimes slaughtered at birth.

Male dairy calves are not typically raised on dairy farms. Only a few bulls are needed for breeding on a dairy farm, and male calves do not grow up to produce milk. The male calves are usually sold to other farms where they are raised for veal (i.e. “young dairy beef”).

Male calves are often moved to a new farm within the first few weeks of life. They are raised on a veal or beef farm to an average of five months of age for milk-fed veal and seven months of age for grain-fed veal.

If there was economic value in raising male chicks, they would be raised. Farmers aren't out to be cruel but if there isn't a market for an animal product there isn't a market.

we gas male chicks in the uk, saw a vid for this when I did my biology a level 1999.

does the same principle apply that they are not considered useful for farming because the breed is bred for milk

Yes. The same principle applies.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/26/dairy-dirty-secret-its-still-cheaper-to-kill-male-calves-than-to-rear-them

Buying free range or organic eggs doesn’t make a huge amount of difference in this instance unfortunately. Boy chicks are still (for the most part) unwanted, so they’re still disposed of somehow.

I used to work on an organic farm, but we produced meat chickens, not eggs. We bought in day old chicks, both male and female, that were bred to gain weight quickly. We had a sister farm that did produce eggs, I assume they also bought in their chicks, so wouldn't be killing chicks themselves, but I can't remember. Egg layers are much lighter and not really suitable to commercial meat production, hence killing the males very early on (also sexing the chicks is easiest in the first few days).

You are not unreasonable to not like the practice. It is a cruel symptom of large scale farming. There are traditional breeds of chicken that are decent for both eggs and meat that hobbiests keep. Maybe if you ask around you can find a place to buy eggs that you are happy with.

What sort of life would they have anyway? No one is going to raise free range male chicks for pet food. Dying at 2 days is possibly preferable to the life they would live otherwise.

Are you just realising now that animals in the food industry die?

Don't even know why you bothered to post this insulting view Mirrivan

Jamie Oliver did a whole programme about the farming industry and gassed chicks live in the studio over 10 years ago. The aim was to show the reality of mass poultry farming.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1575020/Jamie-Oliver-shows-chickens-egg-to-plate-hell.html

In the nicest way, you sound a little naive op

Something I found interesting about the egg industry is there are multiple generation of laying hens, so grandma hens laying mother hens which lay daughter hens which finally lay the eggs that actually get eaten. All to ensure they have the right flocks in place. So at all those stages unwanted males are produced unfortunately.

I love eggs but have cut right back

There is a documentary, released in response to the Australian one, called Land Of Hope And Glory, with footage from 2015 onward from UK farms.

This does still happen in the UK sadly, and organic/free range it's all the same. Male chicks are sadly not viable to keep alive in large numbers and yes, the vast majority are gassed or minced at a day or two old. They are a bi-product, and are treated as such.