Millions of chickens are currently held in narrow, small metal ‘battery’ cages, unable to stretch their wings. Standing on the bottom grid of the cage, their legs are completely deformed.
Thousands are compressed into dense, dark cells, they suffer ammonia burns (as a result of their secretions). The cages are so crowded that many of them are crushed by the others and suffocate to death.
In the hatchery, the chicks go through horrific practice called “debeaking” where the farmers cut off their beaks with a soldering iron blade, all without painkillers.
Male chicks have no market value in the egg industry and therefore, soon after hatching, farm owners dispose of them in one of two ways; either shredding them alive in a giant crusher or leaving them alive in garbage bags until they suffocate to death.
This is the case for about 15,000 baby chicks every day, only in Israel. (Millions every year).