Friends of Rural New York

Thursday December 22, 2005
OPINION
Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin

Chickens live in misery

Nichols residents have good reason to be concerned about a planned factory farm, but let’s not overlook a larger issue: Most of the chicken meat we find in grocery stores and restaurants comes from “broiler” chickens raised in precisely the kind of concentrated animal feeding operation proposed.

To maximize profits, factory farmers force chickens to live in severely overcrowded and filthy conditions, with each bird receiving about 130 inches of living space.

While it used to take 84 days to raise a five-pound chicken, corporate agriculture has used selective breeding and growth-promoting drugs to reduce this to only 45 days.

Such fast growth causes these birds to suffer from a number of chronic health problems, including leg disorders and heart disease.

Chickens also frequently succumb to heat prostration, infectious diseases and cancer, all while living amidst their own excrement.

Each year in the United States, more than 8 billion chickens are treated in this manner.

One of the best ways to help eliminate the pollution and misery is by leaving chickens and eggs off our plates and adopting a healthy, delicious plant-based diet.

Mark Hawthorne

Rohnert Park, CALIF.