What’s Wrong with Backyard Chickens!?

Keep reading to find out what happened to these chickens.

What’s wrong with backyard chickens!? 

They aren’t abused! They lay eggs anyway! They’re like pets!

Backyard chickens have exploded in popularity over recent years. They’re like an allusion back to olden times when 98% of the US population were farmers. 

But in modern times, there’s a lot wrong with backyard chickens.

Where do backyard chickens come from? 

First, let's consider their origin. 

Before we buy them at the store, backyard chickens must be hatched at hatcheries. These are massive factories that hatch tens of thousands of eggs every month. 

After hatching, the baby chicks are put onto a conveyor belt where they are separated by sex - the industry calls this “sexing.”

Only female chickens produce eggs (more on that later) so males are useless for egg laying. The “egg laying” breed of chicken is different from the “meat” breed of chicken, so the males cannot be used for meat. 

So what happens to the males?

On their first day of life, the males are ground up alive. 

The industry term for it is “maceration.” At the end of the conveyor belt, the males fall into rotating blades that grind them up into mush. While they are still alive. 

For both commercial and backyard operations, the US alone macerates over 250 million male baby chicks every year. While they are still alive.

For every one female backyard chicken, there is one male who was ground up alive as a waste product. 

When we buy chickens at supply stores, they’re usually kept in cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other in drawers. They’re provided very little food and water. 

Sometimes enough baby chicks in a box will die that the store throws the whole box into the dumpster. Nevermind that there are live baby chicks still in the box. For them, it’s too much of a hassle to pick out the dead ones. They just throw everyone away like trash. 

I’ve personally witnessed this. I won’t say which store. But it happens everywhere.

Why do chickens lay eggs?

Next, let’s consider the reasons chickens lay eggs.

Egg laying is the menstrual cycle of the female chicken, which is actually very similar to the human menstrual cycle.

Chickens naturally ovulate about every 30 days, just like humans. This means that their bodies should only produce an egg about once per month, or around 12 per year.

Humans, however, have genetically modified chickens to lay over 300 eggs per year. Basically, we are making them ovulate almost every day. 

The shells of eggs need so much calcium that their food doesn’t provide enough to keep up with daily production. So their bodies start leaching calcium from their bones to put into the egg shells.

This results in weak leg bones that can either break, or be so weak that they can’t support their own body weight and they can become immobile. 

The high production of eggs also increases the risk of eggs getting stuck inside their bodies. If this happens and the egg ruptures, it’s a death sentence. 

Have you ever been aggressively pecked by a chicken when trying to take their eggs away? There’s a reason they do that!

Chickens have an instinctual need to protect their eggs. After all, that’s where their babies come from! When humans take the eggs away, it causes profound emotional distress. When they peck us, they’re trying to protect their babies!

Egg laying isn’t just a harmless process, and eggs aren’t just a waste product that the chicken doesn’t want. The way we’ve engineered their bodies to produce eggs and the act of taking the eggs leads to profound physical and emotional suffering day in and day out. 

What are the typical living conditions?

Finally, let’s discuss the living conditions for backyard chickens.

I worked in animal rescue for over a year, and in that time I saw horrible situations of abuse and neglect involving backyard chickens.

We may say that they’re part of the family, but I’ve never met someone who totally ensured the safety and security of their backyard chickens like they would for a dog or cat. 

First, there’s the issue of predators. Many of the chicken coops we can buy on Amazon or at supply stores are not predator proof. 

It’s a common occurrence for chicken owners to say they lost one or more of their chickens to a predator. Usually said with a shrug and little frown on their face, like it’s a sad but inevitable reality. 

No real value is given to the life of that chicken, especially not when compared with the sadness that would certainly accompany the loss of a dog or cat. 

One time, we rescued a group of chickens from a typical backyard operation. The owners had a couple of chickens in a little coop, and took their eggs every couple of days. 

On the surface, it was picturesque.

When we got the rescue call, apparently some sort of predator was able to get in the coop and got a hold of a chicken named Cricket. Cricket survived, but the predator tore off her wing. 

The amazing thing was the owners didn’t call right away. They let some time pass before they decided they didn’t want to take care of her anymore. Because she was an inconvenience. 

They didn’t even take her to an animal hospital. 

When we arrived, Cricket’s wing had been torn off, and the owners hadn’t done anything. They said she looked fine so they just left her outside. 

I doubt they would have acted that way if a predator tore off their dog’s leg. 

Second, there’s the issue of weather. Birds do not do well in cold conditions. The wild ancestor of the chicken is the Red Jungle Fowl, a tropical bird. They love warmth and humidity (not too hot, though!)

While working in animal rescue, I’ve seen all too often chickens literally freezing to death because owners didn’t think to put heaters in their coops. 

It’s not malicious, the owners didn’t want to see their chickens freeze to death. But as a society, we just don’t place the same level of value on their life as we do with dogs or cats. 

We don’t think about their needs as thoroughly as we would with animals that live inside our homes.

I’ve also seen the other extreme. 

One time, we showed up to a rural Colorado property to rescue some severely abused and neglected sheep. It was the middle of June, over 100 degrees, and no clouds in sight. The sun was beating down on the bone-dry dirt.

When we showed up to the property, in addition to the six sheep, they also had about six or seven goats, one baby cow, and dozens of chickens.

The chickens were all crowded in this huge cage, there were at least 50 of them. As I looked into the cage, sweating just standing there, I realized that there was no water anywhere. 

None of the animals had water. And it was 100 degrees outside. 

I quickly found a hose and started filling everyone’s water up. The sheep, goats, and baby cow weren’t really interested in the water, perhaps because they were so stressed out by our presence. 

But the chickens went crazy. All 50+ of them swarmed the water buckets. They were crawling over each other to get to the water. It had probably been days or even weeks since they had access to water.

But we had to leave them behind. We only had permission to rescue the sheep.

Later, we learned that there had actually been TWO baby cows, but one of them died from starvation before we got there.

It was one of the saddest days of my life - to leave behind those other desperate animals. 

In my heart, I know that some of them have since probably died a horrible death of starvation or dehydration because we couldn’t save them that day.

Your Vote Counts

Having backyard chickens sounds really nice. We get to be close to a farmed animal (that’s always fun!) We get to feel closer to the source of our food. It feels nostalgic, an allusion to olden times.

But the reality is not so nice. 

The way backyard chickens are produced is part of a system that grinds up 250 million male baby chicks every year. While they are still alive.

The egg laying process is very hard on their bodies, and produces a lot of physical and emotional suffering. 

And the reality of most backyard chickens is one of harsh exposure to the elements and constant threat of death by predators. 

Not to mention, when the chicken inevitably stops laying eggs, they’re usually killed. 

We have so many plant based options nowadays. It’s easier than ever to omit eggs from our diet. 

Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in. 

Let’s vote for compassion. 

Let’s vote for valuing all life. 

Let’s Vote Vegan.