i'm assuming you mean battery hens?

for those of you who don't know, battery hens are egg-laying hens kept in intensive systems called battery units. 3 to 7 hens are kept in cages about the size of a typical microwave oven, too small to even spread their wings, and they are not let out until they're taken to slaughter. the cages severely restrict natural movement, and are stacked on top of each other so that the feces from the top cages drips down through the cages below. (in case you're wondering, this is a major reason why diseases like e. coli and salmonella are so common in supermarket poultry these days).

farmers shear off the hens' beaks with a hot iron days after they are born to prevent them from pecking their cagemates to death from frustration. male chicks are almost all killed at one day old. common methods are mincing (being thrown into a machine that chops them into tiny pieces), crushing, suffocation, or starvation.

for more information on battery hens, see here:
link
link

ha typos are so funny!
i think to suddenly pass a law saying that it's illegal would be completley insane! we need to start with basic regulations and move on from there although personally i generally try to eat organic food as they're normally pumped full of steriods and drugs to try to stop the dieses that bliss metioned from spreading so they ain't the healthest of foods to eat

and if anyone argues back to blisslikethis comment with the "they're the extreme cases" arguement i swear to god *shakes fist* rare it or not does not matter as it still happens!

Anyone in Britain watch 'Hugh's Chicken Farm' on Channel Four. It shows the true horrors of battery farming.

Free range taste better anyway.

unfortunately, there are still a lot of problems with the free range system as well. but it's a start, and supporting it will only lead to improvements.

i started watching it but i got kind of bored i know that sounds awful but i have heard all the facts about this so many times
frankly i can't believe that the government doesn't have stricter regulations already

Its more to watch his reactions and see a human face on it. Emotions speaker louder than facts. I had to stop watching because I was in tears.

Lets face it, if you're okay with eating the end result of all of this, you never really cared about the lives of the chickens in the first place.

The only reason this upsets people is because it makes them uncomfortable, they wish they had not seen it more than they wish chickens didn't live and die this way.

Sorry if that seems sort of harsh to anyone

i completely agree, Zerstoren. most people are way more concerned with their own comfort than they are with the well-being of others, especially animals. it's easy to write them off as inferior or less worthy of care and compassion because it means we don't have to feel guilty.

*hands tissue*
i guess for people who arn't vegitarians economy meat is all they can afford and it's just easier to concern themselves with something else

which you could then ask does that mean that hens should have to suffer a horrible death so the family can eat better or should the family have to miss out on as much food so a chicken can die in a "humane" way
what do you think?

or you could stop eating meat because tofu is cheaper ;)

Stop eating meat! I'd die! I love chicken!

i loved it too, but i love knowing that i'm not responsible for thousands of animals being tortured and killed every year more.

bah, i hate sounding like an extremist. i'm really not. going veg isn't for everyone and i respect that; but i don't respect people who choose to ignore the realities of their decisions.

supporting the meat industry has consequences, for animals, for the environment, and even for your own health. if you choose to eat meat, then at the very least be aware of the significance of, and have the decency not to be flippant about, that choice.

yes but vegetarianism (is that the right word?)is not the issue as i do like meat but i don't completely love it but i chose to eat it as part of my diet and that's someones own choice although yeah tofu is nice for a family that wants to eat meat, economy meat is cheap

Just adding levity.

I eat meat. I like meat. I'm aware of the implications eating meat has.

See it from my point of view. I'm coming from a culture that traditionally deals with free range creatures. Most Irish meat(over here anyway) is free range. I have been surrounded by farms and agriculture my entire life. Its a way of life over here.

What about the farmers? Think on it. Many farmers make their living raisng beef herds, or chickens. What would they do? You can't say farm crops, soil isn't suitable in a lot of places for different crops.

Look, vegetarianism isn't the issue, as debs said. I don't agree with the inhumane destruction of animals, and battery farming is just wrong. Do not equate a joke about eating meat with indifference or ignorance.

debs, the point is that chickens are essentially being tortured so people can have cheap meat. soy products are generally even cheaper, and don't involve hurting animals - pretty great solution. i respect that some people choose to eat meat anyway, but you can't take vegetarianism out of a discussion like this and try to debate it anyway.

dazl, i apologize. i tend to get worked up about this particular issue. i think i need to start using more general pronouns, because i'm usually talking about a collective "you", but i keep accidentally offending people. :S

i really support the idea of sustainable agriculture, but unfortunately it's not the norm any more. family farms are being replaced by huge factory farms, and it's these places that raise battery hens and take part in all kinds of other inhumane practices. the reason for this is because meat consumption is so high. so no, vegetarianism isn't the issue, it's a solution.

on the other hand, so is lobbying for support of small scale farms, boycotting companies that are known to abuse animals (KFC is a great example), and buying local meat from family farms rather than economy from the grocery store. yeah, it costs more, but if you eat a little less meat and buy the good stuff it evens out.

so like i said, i respect that vegetarianism isn't for everyone. there's still lots of other ways you can help animals without giving up meat entirely.

I agree completely with blisslikethis.

And Zerstoren. People generally don't want or care about humane treatment for these animals; they just want to feel better about themselves, so they can worry about something else. It most likely doesn't truly matter to them, as long as it isn't on their conscience.
Please note that I have said 'most likely' and 'generally' - there are always exceptions.

Overall, Factory Farming is completely unfair. I do not think animals are on the 'same level' as humans, but I think that humans and their meat production companies are taking extreme advantage of a more highly developed brain and strength when compared to the animals we feast on. They take advantage of the poor quality of information most people have of where their meat comes from. And they take advantage of these defenseless creatures, stuffing them into cages where they will never once in their pathetic lives turn around or see sunlight.

It sickens me. Not eating meat. The industry.

No need to apologise bliss. I got into a bit of a rant.

you can't just say vegitarism is a solution to battery farms because it's not
okay i respect you don't want to eat meat for your own reason but there are plenty of people out there like me and daz that do eat meat for our reasons too
and i was merely stating that for a family that does want to eat meat none free range is cheaper and for familes in the situation where there are stuggerling for money they could propably only a afford economy meat twice maybe once a weak

i think the main issue is to try and get the government to raise the standards of these farms and work from there

how is vegetarianism not a solution to factory farming? that doesn't make any sense.

because not everyone wants to be a vegitarian that's like saying all countries giving their freedom to america would be a solution to war, yeah it would stop the wars but of corse no country wants to do that

Battery farming is completely wrong, in my view. The annoying thing is, people know how the chickens they eat are killed, but they still eat them.
I don't think any creature should be treated like that.

I'd never heard the term "battery hens" before this post, but I'm familiar with the concept of this high-volume animal farming. Your questions were: what it my opinion, and should it be illegal? My opinion: they are to be pitied. Should it be illegal? Yes, and in the United States it often is already illegal, under different states' animal cruelty laws. See link. The problem is that those laws are most often enforced primarily toward pets, rather than stock animals.

The really sad thing is that we're talking about chickens - animals that are really easy to keep and to raise and only need a small plot of land (like a normal backyard) to support them. We're not talking about steer, for cryin' out loud. People can and do breed, raise, harvest eggs from and eventually slaughter their own chickens. You just have to have a really secure hutch to keep them safe at night, because just about every animal (be it carnivore like a cat, or omnivores like humans and raccoons) will eat them if they're not secured.