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Unsuspecting consumers are directly supporting animal cruelty with their hard earned incomes. Read on to find out what exactly goes on behind the closed doors of the egg industry.
Perth A Current Affair Exposes Battery Hen Hell
Monday night's segment on a Western Australian battery hen farm opened the doors on an industry with a lot to hide.
Unsuspecting consumers are directly supporting animal cruelty with their hard earned incomes.
Read on to find out what exactly goes on behind the closed doors of the egg industry.
What are 'battery hens'?
Most chickens that are exploited for their eggs in Australia are kept in cages for their entire short life - commonly called ‘battery cages’.
In these cages, which provide the hens a space less than the size of an A4 piece of paper, the hens may become dehydrated or immobilised. It is not uncommon for there to be decomposing corpses in cages with live birds. Hen’s feet will often grow into the wire they are forced to stand on. The stress of being confined to a cage causes hens to peck out their own feathers and at each other.
To try and prevent this, the ends of their beaks, which contain sensitive nerve endings, are cut off with a hot blade. No anaesthetic is used and the hen may be in pain for several weeks and have difficulty eating.
Caged hens also routinely suffer from brittle bones (osteoporosis) which allows them to break easily. Studies have shown that 1 in 6 caged hens have broken bones and 1 in 3 will have at least one broken bone by the time they are killed.
The lifespan of a hen used for commercial egg production is around 18 months after which she no longer produces enough eggs to make a profit. She is then sent to to be slaughtered.
See a photo gallery of battery hens from a Western Australian farm.
Where do the hens come from that end up in egg farms?
Hens that are bred to produce eggs begin their lives in a hatchery.
These farms breed chicks that are then sold on to egg farms. Half of the chicks born in a hatchery are male. As male chickens are unable to lay eggs they are of no use to the egg industry. The day old male chicks in hatcheries are killed by gassing, suffocation in huge plastic bags, or are crushed in industrial blenders. This is an inevitable and unavoidable cruel byproduct of the egg industry whether it uses battery cages or free range systems.
Are 'free range' eggs better?
For any product to be mass produced whether it’s labeled ‘organic’, ‘free range’ or ‘humane’, the animals are still bred by the billions, separated from their family members, and eventually loaded into trucks and are brutally slaughtered.
Free range hens exploited for their eggs come from the same hatcheries as those confined in battery farms, all of the baby roosters are killed by suffocation or being ground up alive, the hens themselves endure the same bodily manipulations and mutilations, and they all ultimately end up at the same slaughterhouses when their ‘production’ declines. A few hours outdoors is small relief compared to the rest of their short and torturous lives.
Free range & organic animal products are highly profitable because industries can charge a lot more for the 'product', and consumers are willing to pay that price in order to feel guilt-free without changing their diet. This allows animal exploiters to put even more money back into advertising, which increases sales and ultimately increases the number of animals bred, abused, and killed.
So what can you do?
The sad fact is that all forms of egg production result in cruelty and death for the hens involved.
This is because no matter how well we may try to legislate their treatment, it doesn't change the fact that we treat animals as economic commodities. They are essentially our property, a resource to use as we see fit and in the case of these industries, use them to make profit. As long as animals are considered property (as things) rather than beings with their own interests, suffering is inevitable.
The best thing to do is to boycott eggs altogether. It may seem like a lot to ask but for the hens involved - it's their lives that are at stake.
Removing eggs from your diet is a lot easier than you might think and many people choose not to use eggs in their diet. About 70 percent of the calories in eggs are from fat, and a big portion of that fat is saturated. They are also loaded with cholesterol—about 213 milligrams for an average-sized egg. Because egg shells are fragile and porous and conditions on egg farms are crowded, eggs are the perfect host for salmonella—the bacteria that is a leading cause of food poisoning. So not only will you be doing chickens a favour by avoiding eggs, your body will thank you too.
Eggs are often used in baked products because of their binding and leavening properties. But smart cooks have found good substitutes for eggs. Try one of the following the next time you prepare a recipe that calls for eggs:
- If a recipe calls for just one or two eggs, you can often skip them. Add a couple of extra tablespoons of water for each egg eliminated to balance out the moisture content of the product.
- Eggless egg replacers are available in many health food stores and major supermarkets. These are different from reduced-cholesterol egg products, which do contain eggs. Egg replacers are egg-free and are usually in a powdered form. Replace eggs in baking with a mixture of the powdered egg replacer and water according to package directions.
- Use 1 heaping tablespoon of soy flour or cornstarch plus 2 tablespoons of water to replace each egg in a baked product.
- Use 1 ounce of mashed tofu in place of an egg. Scramble crumbled tofu with onions and peppers seasoned with cumin and/or curry to replace eggs in breakfast dishes.
- In muffins and cookies, half of a mashed banana can be used instead of an egg, although it will change the flavor of the recipe somewhat.
- For vegetarian loaves and burgers, use any of the following to bind ingredients together: tomato paste, mashed potato, moistened bread crumbs, or rolled oats.
For more information on cruelty-free diets check out our Go Vegan section for recipes, tips and a multitude of other reasons why eating animals ain't all it's cracked up to be.
To find out more about why it is problematic to think about animals as our property check out our Animal Rights section.
Find out more about the cruelty that lies behind the egg industry:
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