Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
no. of animals killed per day in the u.s. industries: 31,314,607
31,314,607
24,863,729
fines five to ten birds, and each hen is given about sixty-seven
square inches of space—about two thirds the size of an 8
1
⁄
2
-by-
11-inch piece of paper. They basically live all but on top of one
another for about a year, unable to forage, dust-bathe, nest, or en-
gage in any of the instinctive behaviors of free-roaming chickens.
Inside battery cages, the hens can't even flap their wings.
Like other animals genetically manipulated for commercial im-
peratives, egg-laying hens now produce a mind-numbing yield.
A factory-farmed hen produces about 250 eggs per year, though
some lay 300 or more. That compares to about 100 eggs per hen a
century ago. Their systems depleted by calcium loss and taxed by
