98% of egg laying hens in Canada are confined in battery cages stacked 4-6 rows high in giant sheds. Each shed can contain tens of thousands of birds. Before being placed in the cage, she is separated from her brothers who will be ground up or suffocated while only days old since they are useless to the egg industry and too small to be profitable for meat. Hens’ beaks are seared off with a hot blade to prevent pecking their cell mates. There are 4-6 birds per cage - each bird is given the same space as 1/2 sheet of paper for her entire life! She has no choice but to urinate and defecate on the birds below. This confinement prevents any form of natural behavior. Hens cannot spread their wings, sun or dust bath, or even nest build. They are forced to stand on metal grates which causes serious foot deformities. They remain in this condition until they are slaughtered at two years of age.
|
||
 |
 |
|
Beak Searing | ||
The average Canadian egg farm has 10,000 to 20,000 hens and can range from a few hundred to an astonishing 400,000 hens! (1) The number of producers in Canada is declining while production is increasing, resulting in harsher conditions for the animals.
References:(1) www.eggs.ca; see also: www.nschicken.com www.canadianturkey.ca and Agriculture Canada www.agr.gc.ca |
||
|
||