Chicken Facts

Eggs

• 66% of egg farms in Japan practice forced molting (the process of starving hens for 2 weeks, sometimes also limiting water, to biologically manipulate them to produce more eggs).[S]

• 80% of laying hens in the EU are debeaked.[S]

• 79% of laying hen flocks in the UK are debeaked.[S]

• 83.7% of laying hens in Japan are debeaked.[S]

• 25.4% of laying hens in Switzerland have moderately or severely deformed keel bones.[S]

• 86% of laying hens in Sweden suffer from keel bone fractures.[S]

• 86.1% of laying hens in Denmark suffer from keel bone fractures.[S]

• 36% of hens housed in so-called "enriched" cages, and 45-86% housed in non-cage systems in the UK, suffer from keel bone fractures.[S]

• A study found that throughout a hen's egg-laying period, mortality in caged hens was 5.39%, and 9.52% in free-range hens.[S]

• During an egg-laying period in Germany, mortality in conventional farms was 11.6%, and 9.7% in organic farms.[S]

Battery cages

• 60% of egg-laying hens in the US are raised in battery cages.[S]

• 81.8% of laying hens in Canada are raised in battery cages.[S]

• 28% of eggs sold in the UK are produced in battery cages, and another 7% in non-free range systems considered cage-free.[S]

• Despite only 6% of laying hens in Germany being kept in cages, notably only 20% are kept in free-range systems.[S]

• 36% of laying hens in Italy are raised in battery cages, with only 5% in free-range systems.[S]

• 32% of laying hens in Australia are raised in battery cages, with only 49% in free-range systems.[S]

• 48% of eggs sold in New Zealand come from battery cages, with only 32.8% from free-range systems.[S]

• 99% of eggs sold in Japan come from battery cages.[S]

• 80% of eggs sold in India come from battery cages.[S]

• 95% of eggs sold in Brazil come from battery cages.[S]

• 90% laying hens in Argentina are raised in battery cages.[S]

• 41% of laying hens in Colombia are raised in cage systems.[S]

• 90% of egg farms in China use cage systems.[S]

• Over 90% of laying hens in Indonesia are raised in battery cages.[S]

• 93% of laying hens in Israel are raised in battery cages.[S]

Chick culling

• 320 million male chicks in the US egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life.[S]

• 45 million male chicks in the Dutch egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life.[S]

• 40-45 million male chicks in the UK egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life, typically by gassing.[S]

• 24 million male chicks in the Belgian egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life.[S]

• 23 million male chicks in the Australian egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life, by maceration or gassing.[S][S]

• 22.5 million male chicks in the Canadian egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life.[S]

• 7.5 million male chicks in the Israeli egg industry are culled annnually on their first day of life.[S]

• 4 million male chicks in the New Zealand egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life.[S]

• 3 million male chicks in the Danish egg industry are culled annually on their first day of life.[S]

Meat

• Each year, over 500 million broiler chickens (=chickens raised for meat) die on US farms before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S]

• Each year, over 80 million broiler chickens die on UK farms before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S]

• Each year, over 16 million broiler chickens die on Israeli farms before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S][S]

• Each year, over 18 million broiler chickens die on farms in the Netherlands before slaughter from disease, organ failure, and neglect.[S]

• Only 1.4% of broiler chickens in Germany have access to the outdoors.[S]

• Almost 90 broiler flocks were examined in a study across the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands, where 15.6% of chickens were considered lame (lameness=impairment of walking or moving).[S]

• A comprehensive UK study using over 50,000 broiler chickens found that at an average age of 40 days old, almost 30% of the birds had poor locomotion (movement) ability and over 3% were almost incapable of any movement.[S]

• A large study based on Dutch, British, Italian and Belgian broiler flocks found that on average, 57% of the fast-growing chickens had severe walking problems.[S]

• In a study of 31 different broiler flocks across Sweden, 14-26% of the chickens suffered from a severe impairment in walking ability, and another 24-27% suffered from a moderate impairment.[S]

• 6% of broiler chickens in Denmark suffer from a severe impairment in walking ability, with 35.5% suffering from a moderate impairment.[S]