A small step for a chickens, a minor leap for humans—from RNZ:

“Domino's says fast food brands in NZ risk falling behind European standards for chicken welfare, as it moves to phase out controversial fast-growing breeds.

“Animals Aotearoa has released disturbing footage of fast-growing chickens to RNZ and is challenging all New Zealand's food companies to follow Domino's lead and change to slower-growing breeds, which can take around two weeks longer to reach full size.”

There’s a video in the link above, or if you’re not up for it, here are a few words:

“The footage, shot in New Zealand by Farmwatch and released by Animals Aotearoa, shows birds with splayed legs, unable to stand to reach food or water. Others struggle to walk, and some only take a few steps before sitting down again.”

Here’s a screenshot from the video:

You may be thinking, “Ah it’s ok, I only eat free-range chickens!

Well, here’s another screenshot from the same video:

Yep, this is what technically goes for “free-range”. No cages…

“Chicken farm staff walk through sheds daily to remove dead or dying chickens, but with around 40,000 chickens often in one shed it can be easy to miss some. Farmwatch, the group which captured the footage said they saw three to four chickens unable to walk in the part of the shed they filmed in.

"The chickens that can't reach food and water, unless they're lucky enough to be found by a worker and killed, they're going to die on the floor of the shed," said Macdonald.”

When it comes to KFC, don’t worry: the dirt and shit is wiped off before applying the Colonel’s secret recipe of herbs and spices.

I forgot to mention cannibalism. Since chickens are living, breathing, and social creatures, cramming them into dimly lit “free-range” hell-sheds like this brings out their antisocial behaviours, like cannibalism.

Not joking.

To temper this, New Zealand still allows debeaking, which means cutting off the sharp end of chickens’ beaks so that they can’t attack each other, or worse.

If you feel like some cool-aid and/or Soviet-style propaganda, try this from the Egg Producers Federation of NZ:

“Modern beak treatment is done in hatcheries by trained staff with special equipment. It is performed by laser and is painless, as similar to human fingernails, hens do not have nerves or a blood supply in the tip of their beaks.”

Such barbarism is already banned in Scandinavia, and the ban is gradually spreading across the “developed” world.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand:

“From 2022 onwards, it will be illegal for hens to be housed in battery cages in New Zealand. Colony cages have been approved as the a new caged housing system to replace battery cages.”

Colony cages are the same hell except you share your cage with a bigger bunch of chickens. Compared to this, the “free-range” chickens you see above are in a kind of paradise…

Another juicy titbit from the same Egg Producing folks:

“Cage farming methods have been scientifically shown to reduce the instance of disease and illness as birds are not as easily exposed to the pathogens often found on the ground or through increased contact with other hens or species.”

Disturbing.

Dominos sells industrial-style take-away pizzas that make Italians turn in their graves. Unlike KFC, Domino’s main ingredient in its “pizzas” is not chicken, but it’s good to see some slow change taking place for chickens subjected to these houses of horror.

If you’re in New Zealand and you don’t want to be a part of the torture chamber shit, and you still want to eat the occasional chicken, there are actually options that don’t oblige you to drag your soul through the poo. For instance, Bostock Brothers farm truly free-range chickens in the Hawkes Bay in the midst of an organic apple farm. There’s a great Country Calendar video on their operation:

Unfortunately, their chickens are still the fast-growing breed, but they currently don’t control the breeding part:

"Bostock Brothers is a chicken meat producer so we have no control over the genetics. The chicken breeders in New Zealand control the breeds we can access. Slow growing chicken breeds would be Bostock Brothers' choice and preference if this was an option available to us."

“He said the company supported any measures and regulation changes required to bring slow-growing chickens to the country.”

Good answer!

Their chickens cost between 22 and 27 NZ$ depending on their size. That’s about twice the price of a chicken that lived a truly shitty life with part of its beak cut off, stumbling around in its own shit in a dodgy badly-lit warehouse its whole miserable life. Or in a cage, with no stumbling anywhere at all.

If twenty-two bucks seems expensive, maybe try to eat a bit less chicken to offset the cost, add in some pasta or veggies, a tasty sauce, and you’re good to go!

Maybe give it a try and make the world a slightly better place?