truth about free-range eggs and poultry

8/6/2019 Truth about free-range eggs and poultry

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United Poultry Concerns, Inc.

PO Box 150

Machipongo, Virginia 23405

(757) 678-7875

[email protected]

www.upc-online.org

“The waiter said, ‘All o our chicken is ree-range.’ And I said, ‘He doesn’t look very free there on that plate.’”

– Joe Bob Briggs, “We Are the Weird”

“Free-range” evokes a positive image o chickens andturkeys living outdoors with plenty o resh air, sunshine

and open space to roam in.“Cage-Free” conveys a similar impression o hens living“ree” as nature intended. What are the realities behind“ree range” and “cage-ree” labels?

“Free-Range” Poultry and Eggs

Not All They’re Cracked Up To Be



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Birds raised or meat may be sold as “ree-range” i they have governmentcertied access to the outdoors. The door may be open or only ve minutesand the arm still qualies as “ree-range.” Apart rom the “open door,” noother criteria such as environmental quality, number o birds, or space per

bird, are included in the term “ree-range.” A government ocial said: “PlacesI’ve visited may have just a gravel yard with no alala or other vegetation.”

A visitor to Polyace Farm in Virginia wrote: “I toured Polyace on a swelteringday. Chickens were in tiny cages withtin roos in the beating sun, panting

like mad. The cages were located overmanure piles the birds were supposedto eat larvae rom. Rabbits were kept inactory-arm conditions in suspended,barren wire cages. There was no signo reedom or compassion or theseanimals.”

Visitors to Springeld Farm in Sparks,Maryland reported: “The ‘ree-range’turkeys we saw were housed in a eld inthe reezing cold with no shelter excepta small wooden tarp-covered structureonly big enough or hal o them. The

others huddled together shivering in the weather. The armer roughly grabbedthe turkeys by their legs and held them upside down while they fapped their

wings desperately to upright themselves. That is how he carried them.”

Photo by: East Bay Animal Advocates

“Free-range organic” young turkeys with surgically mutilated beaksat Diestel Turkey Ranch, a supplier to Whole Foods.

“Free-Range” Birds Raised For Meat

Ater 3 days without ood, birds at Polyace arestued into metal killing cones and brutally

butchered, as in this picture o a terrifed “ree-range” rooster being cut to death with a knie.



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Free-range hens are typically debeakedas chicks at the hatchery the same asbattery-caged hens. Debeaking is apainul acial mutilation that impairs a

hen’s ability to eat normally and preenher eathers. Typically, 2,000 to 20,000or more hens – each hen having onesquare oot o living space the size o asheet o paper – are conned in a shed

with little or no access to the outdoors.I the hens can go outside, the exit is

oten very small, allowing only theclosest hens to get out. And the “range”may be nothing more than a mudyardsaturated with manure.

“Free-Range” Hens Kept for Eggs

Severed beaks in the bottomo a debeaking machine.

Chick about to be debeaked at the hatchery. Debeaked chicks with bloody beaks.

“Organic” and “Certified Humane” Eggs

“Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs” in New Hampshire exemplies the misleadingmuddle o “organic,” “humane,” “ree-range,” and “cage-ree” advertising.Despite the “Certied Humane” logo, visitors were shocked to nd 100,000debeaked hens crowded into ve 400 t long sheds, each holding “a sea o 20,000 brown hens,” so densely crowded the foor was invisible. Though it wasa mild September day in a lush green valley, the visitors said they “couldn’t seeany hens enjoying the grass, just several large sheds that took up most o the

arm.” The “range,” even i the hens had been outside, was just “a bare patch o dirt between the sheds.”



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“Cage-Free” Hens Kept for Eggs

“Cage-ree” means that, while the hens are not squeezed into small wire cages,they never go outside. “Cage-ree” hens are typically conned in dark, crowdedbuildings lled with toxic gases and disease microbes the same as their battery-caged sisters. And like their battery-caged sisters, they are painully debeaked at

the hatchery. While chickens are designed to dig in the ground or ood withtheir beaks and claws, when deprived o outlets suited to their energies andinterests, they can be driven to peck at each other, having nothing to do

with their time once they’ve laid their egg or the day in a barren building.Chickens love sunlight – they sunbathe daily outdoors – but “cage-ree” hensare denied even this simple pleasure.

Black Eagle Farm, a “cage-ree” operation in Virginia, houses 48,000 hens.Platorms are designed to cram as many hens as possible into the building.

This is a typical large-scale commercial operation being advertised as “animal riendly.”



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“Free-Range,” “Cage-Free” and “Organic”

Hens are Slaughtered the Same as Birds

Raised or Meat

Though chickens can live active lives or 7 to 15 years, “ree-range,” “cage-ree,” and “organic” hens are grabbed upside down by their legs, thrown into

transport truckslike garbage, andhauled to slaughterthe same as battery-

caged hens atextremely youngages. Many o thesegentle hens aresold to live poultry markets where they sit or days in lthy

cages listening tothe screams o theircagemates beingbutchered in theback room.

Young emale chickens await suering and death in a U.S. “meat” slaughterhouse.

Many hens rom cage-ree and battery-cage egg operations end upin hellholes like Nick’s live poultry market in New York City.

Photos by: Adam Parascandola and Carol McCormick

Photo by: Sarah Anikin

To see how these birds are treated, go to www.upc-online.org/livemarkets

and watch the video Inside a Live Poultry Market .



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“Egg-Type” Male Chicks are Trashed at Birth

Newborn male chickens are thrown into plastic trash bags at the hatchery.This is a standard egg production arming practice throughout the world.

Egg production produces “excess” male chicks with no commercial value sincemale birds don’t lay eggs. Thereore, the baby brothers o all hens used orall egg production – regardless o the label – are suocated to death in trashcans, electrocuted, gassed, or ground up alive as soon as they break out o theirshells. For every “ree-range,” “cage-ree,” or “organic” hen, a baby rooster isborn and trashed. No ederal laws protect chickens rom abuse under any label.



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“Free-Range” Poultry and Eggs: Diferent

rom Factory Farming?

It is a myth that “ree range” poultry and egg production is separaterom industrial animal production. All orms o animal production areeconomically related. For example, many small arms buy their birds rommega-industrial actory-arm hatcheries such as Murray McMurray in Iowa.McMurray alone ships 100,000 chicks each week to buyers. “Free-range”producers have joined together with the U.S. Postal Service, cockghters andother vested interests to orce the airlines to ship baby chicks like luggage,because it is cheapest.

Millions o chicks die enroute o starvation, dehydration and terror. Despitethe actory-arm connection and total inhumaneness, Polyace owner JoelSalatin speaks or the “ree-range” lobby: “We small independent producersrely on that transport. It’s our very lieblood.” He also says: “People have asoul; animals don’t. Unlike us, animals are not created in God’s image.”

All Hatchery Photos: Courtesy o The Animals Voice



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What Can I Do?Please show kindness and respect to birds and other animals by not eatingthem or their eggs or drinking their milk. Instead, discover the variety o all-vegetarian, vegan oods and cooking ideas. For recipes and cookbooks,go to www.upc-online.org/recipes/. For vegetarian and healthy ood options

worldwide, go to HappyCow Compassionate Eating Guide at www.HappyCow.net.

United Poultry Concerns is a nonprot organization dedicated to the compassionate

and respectul treatment o chickens, turkeys, ducks and other domestic owl. We seek

to make the public aware o how these birds are treated, and to promote the benets o a

vegan diet and liestyle. We invite you to join us and support our work. For inormation

about all orms o poultry and egg production, see Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: AnInside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry by Karen Davis, PhD. Order at www.upc-

online.org or send $14.95 check or money order to the address below. Thank you!

United Poultry Concerns is a nonproft 501(c)(3) organization. Federal ID: 52-1705678

For references, visit www.upc-online.org/freerange.html

United Poultry Concerns, Inc.

PO Box 150

Machipongo Virginia 23405

(757) 678-7875

[email protected]

www upc-online org

Egg-Free Baking Tipsl• Vinegar and Baking Soda: For a rising or lightening eect in cakes,

cup

cakes and breads, combine 1 teaspoon o baking soda with 1 tablespoon o vinegar.l• Ground Flaxseed: Rich in essential omega-3 atty acids, 1 tablespoon o ground faxseed whisked with 3 tablespoons o water in a blender or ood proces-sor will replace one egg. Flaxseed works best in nutty, grainy items like pancakes, wafes, bran muns and oatmeal cookies.l• Bananas: For its binding abilities, hal o a potassium and magnesium richmashed or pureed banana will generally replace one or two eggs in breads, mu-ns, cakes and pancakes.l• Applesauce: Full o ber and vitamin C, unsweetened applesauce oers the

binding and moisture needed in baked goods. 1/4 cup equals one egg. Apple-sauce works best when you want the results to be moist, as in brownies.l• Silken Tou: Rich in protein and ber, but without the cholesterol andlittle, i any, saturated at, this soy-based ingredient works best in dense, moistcakes and brownies. One egg can be replaced with 1/4 cup o tou whipped in ablender or ood processor.l• ENER-G Egg Replacer: Available in a handy box in most ood stores, thisnonperishable powdered product works well in baking, but is best in cookies.

Adapted by Rhode Island Vegan Awareness from The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks’

Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, 2007.

truth about free-range eggs and poultry

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