For centuries people killed animals for food and never considered it cruel. It was just a survival. Even if you ask your grandfather he would probably tell you that all you have to do is snap the neck of the chicken. When chicken became mass produced after people invented large refrigerators, commercial farms started raising thousands and thousands of chicken at the same place. They wanted to find the cheapest way to raise chicken to make profit. The inhumane treatment of chicken became an issue for animal rights activists. While some were raised for egg production, others were raised for their meat. Of course, before they are sent to stores and restaurants they had to be slaughtered. How they slaughtered chicken became an issue with animal rights activists.
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Many animal activist feel that chicken should be treaded well. Than means that they should be given enough space to move around like on this farm.
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Humans need animals for food. Unless you are vegetarian, you eat meat. And even then, some vegetarians eat eggs (which of course would become a chicken). As long as people eat meat, animals will be slaughtered. While some people feel that it really does not matter how we kill them or raise them, others feel that although we are raising them for food we are responsible to treat them humanly. Today, many countries have laws and rules on how chicken (and other farm animals) should be treated and slaughtered. If you are concerned about humane treatment of chicken, here are some ways to do it.
RAISING CHICKEN HUMANELY
Certified Humane is an organization that is devoted to promoting humane treatment of farm animals. According to the Certified Humane these standards that farms and people need to follow so that chicken (and other animals) can be treated humanly:
1. Access to nutritious food
2. Appropriate environmental design
3. Caring and responsible management and handlers
4. Considerate transportation and slaughter
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN
1. Access to nutritious food
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This means that chicken need to be allowed normal food and water supply that is appropriate for their age. Food should be clean,have no hormones that are not allowed, and should not have other chicken products in it. There should be enough food so that chicken can eat as much as they need. The water must be within reach and available all the time for the chicken.Water should be fresh and changed every day.
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2. Appropriate environment
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This standard is mostly about where chicken live. The coops should be big enough so chicken can move around normally. Also they should have concrete floors so that they can be easily cleaned to prevent diseases. They should protect chicken from weather and have the right temperature that depends on how old are chicken. Shelters should not be dangerous. For example, there shouldn't be toxic things like some paints. Also electrical objects should not be close to chicken so they don't get electrocuted. Finally, there shouldn't be sharp objects so that chicken do not get injured. Coop floors need to be covered with litter like saw dust. This litter has to be where chicken can use it, it has to be cleaned and changed often, and must be good quality. Chicken should not be housed in cages or wire floor coops, because it can hurt them when they try to squeeze through. Chicken houses need to have light and dark. Some farmers believe that if they keep lights on all the time chicken will grow faster. But, this is not humane because chicken need rest. They should have at least 6 hours of dark each 24 hours.
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3. Caring and responsible management
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It is important to know how take care of chicken. This means that people who work with animals need to keep records of almost everything. For example, they need to record when water and food was changed and when the coop was cleaned. They also need to know when the chicken is ill and record all sick or dead chicken. They need to know how to operate equipment like incubators to make sure chicken are safe. They need to know how to clean correctly to prevent diseases.
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4. Considerate transportation and slaughter
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We know that most of the chicken will be slaughtered. But even this can be done humanly. First of all transportation. Chicken should be transported as little as possible. When they are transported they need to have enough space, air and right temperature. Slaughtering animals is another issue. When chicken are taken to slaughter they first go to holding area.They shouldn't be there more 10 hours. Then they should be killed humanely. Stop feeding birds 12 hours before so their stomach are empty. Birds should be shackled upside down so that the blood can drain. Make sure that shackles are right size and handlers know how to use them. Next, the chicken should be stunned. This means that it will be unconscious and that can be done using electricity. There shouldn't be more than 90 seconds between shackling and stunning. . To finally slaughter the bird, veins in its neck are cut and neck is broken. There shouldn't be more than 10 seconds between stunning and neck breaking, because bird should stay unconscious. Before they are sent to processing plant each bird should be checked to make sure it's dead.
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