Grinding up live chicks – “not as bad as suffocating them”

Candid camera footage of male chicks being ground up alive in a factory in Iowa has become one of today's most talked-about subjects on the Web. It's not such an outrageous way of getting rid of the birds however, a US farmer explains to us.

The video, filmed in May and June of this year by an employee of animal rights group "Mercy for Animals", was released on Saturday. It reveals the disposal methods of male chicks - useless for egg-producing companies - in a factory owned by the biggest egg-laying chicken producer in the US, Hy-Line. The factory in question is in Iowa but the group says it was chosen at random to illustrate the "standard procedure" of the company, which disposes of 200 million male chicks per year.

Factory farming poultry has become commonplace in developed countries in the past 30 years. In the UK, 99% of chickens are factory farmed, while in France, the number is lower, at 70%.

“Most places just throw them in a garbage bag and let them suffocate”

Sandra Miller runs a grass-based sustainable farm in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. She raises cows, goats, and chickens.

The most humane thing to do with chicks is to freeze them to death. Or gas them with CO2. That way they just go to sleep. Personally I slit their throats, but mine are older. Grinding them is an ugly way but it's quick. Most places just throw them in a garbage bag and let them suffocate, which is much worse.

The problem is that the industry has been completely industrialised. The law of the farm is that ‘if you're male, you're meat' - it always has been. You have to be realistic - what else are you going to do with them?! In the olden days people used to grow up their males to a good size and then put them in the freezer and boil them up later. Now industrialised farmers are looking for maximum profit and minimum hassle.

Personally I think they're grinding up money. You have to try to find a market for your by-products. For example, I've got a friend who breeds falcons. So she goes to the hatchery for baby males to feed to the raptors. There are plenty of zoos with reptiles fed on livestock, they could send them there. I've just butchered some males who were the most scrawny, pathetic looking things. The Kate Mosses of the chicken world. If someone gave me that at a barbeque I'd say, ‘you're not going to feed me that!' But they'll come in very useful for tacos or a salad later."

Comments

Grinding

Submitted by Terminator (not verified) on Fri, 04/09/2009 - 01:12.

Because of my beliefs I disagree with this being wrong however I would prefer them to be C02'd before grinding. I do agree with ending factory farming, this must stop. It has huge impact on environment and leaves a major carbon footprint. We do not need huge factories to produce enough food and remain competitive. It is also a security concern, all our eggs gather in a few baskets. If a bunch went offline one day or became contaminated it would be major problems. I’m all for a return to localized or forest farming and marketing in a more organic way with minimum footprint. Local economies would be more stable instead of having local jobs and cash sucked out to some huge tax generating machine. Again...it’s just another state funded power grab! With fuel costs rising and recession there is some re-localization beginning. Mass corporate monopoly is at the root of this evil. I don’t know about EU but most Americans are ingrained with the belief they need huge portions of meat on the table everyday and don’t think about where it comes from...that some animal was created, caged, killed, then trucked to you. They don’t think about the environmental impact. A few families in my area have reverted back to producing most of their own food. In the US During WWII 70% of all food was produced in the garden. No one went hungry and no chickies were crushed to death.

Unregistered user

Chick grinding

Submitted by hajee (not verified) on Thu, 03/09/2009 - 09:48.

Do today's city slickers realise that to eat meat you have to kill the animal? I fully agree with Sandra Miller that it is not a neat way to get rid of the male chicks, but it is the best option available.
The video was broadcasted by a vegan group that wants us to refrain from using any kind of animal product, so also no milk and eggs, leather and what have you. The voice-over of the movie wants us to believe that it is an unbiassed professional comment, however the wordings used prove the opposite. These action groups always kick against modern farming, but do not come up with real alternatives. If we would go vegan, ecological and non-industrial we would need 80% more land to grow our food. Where would the Amazon then be? And are these veganists prepared to work on the land? It would leave them no time to protest anymore. That would be a boring life.

Unregistered user

Grinding Up of Live Chicks

Submitted by Tofu Lion (not verified) on Thu, 03/09/2009 - 04:58.

It shouldn't matter if it is quick. What is happening here is wrong and must be stopped. Humankind has been too cruel and barbaric to animals for too long. It's time to take a stand and give a voice to the voices. Factory farming must be destroyed and replaced with "forest system" farming. In this manner we could provide more food for all without the environmental (meat production makes more global warming emissions than all the vehicles in the world) effects and the cruelty to animals. factory farming is the root of this evil and must be dug up and destroyed.

Unregistered user

this news

Submitted by Unregistered userjoseph walker (not verified) on Wed, 02/09/2009 - 21:28.

Sickening ,not my cup of tea.there is a saying No sense ,no feeling" what a subject matter.ps would rather not know ,how we get our products ,makes me want to give up eating meat altogether.ps most of my cicle of friends know i would'nt survive if i had to kill animals.

Unregistered user