10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2012

As promised, I watched Falcons get plucked, pinioned, and debeaked this weekend. But since these sorry birds are giving avifauna a bad name, I should mention the sleek Cooper’s Hawk I spotted at Turning Point Park. Not a bad bird at all! What was your best bird of the weekend?

Debeaking 187

Debeaking Atlanta 2011 United States 187

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

Since chickens of the strain raised for meat production aren't typically raised in cages, the label "free roaming chicken" can legally be applied to chickens that were painfully debeaked and then permanently confined in an overcrowded shed with 100,000 other chickens each of whom had 7/10 of a square foot of floor space.

Factory 40

Factory Gestation Crates Veal Crate Factory Farm 40

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

They are debeaked because that is necessary to keep them from injuring each other." If, in fact, Trader Joe's deems debeaking as necessary, then this immediately reveals the high density of birds. However, I did get a response from corporate headquarters: "The hens live in barns with some access to the outdoors.

Eggs 100

Eggs Debeaking Cage Free Humane 100

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 20, 2007

Free range” does not solve the problem of painful debeaking, enormously oversized flocks or the unnatural isolation of the birds from other sexes and age groups. The rooster watches over the flock protectively and often participates in a hen’s egg-laying ritual, an extremely important and private part of her life.

New York Times 40

New York Times Battery Cages New York Debeaking 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 16, 2009

In my 40s, I became a vegetarian because I was saving sick and injured birds, and I just couldn’t eat them and save them. Push-ups, sit-ups, carrying 50-pound bags of bird seed—and I will be 71 in May. The debeaking of hens and other routine cruelties of egg production are seldom put before the public.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Factory Farming Debeaking 40