Last week, following a workshop about battery hens, nearly 20 people went to a South Auckland factory farm to see first hand how battery hens in Aotearoa are living. For many this was the first time they had been to a factory farm but it was something they needed to see, despite the risk.
Alana, who came on the tour, said ‘I wanted to go because I knew that seeing a battery hen farm myself, would enable me to explain better to others what they are like. I felt that people would believe me more if I had personally experienced being in one. I also felt like I was at the stage where I wanted to take a more hands on approach to helping animals, rather than just collecting money etc... so this was the first step for me towards that goal.'
What we saw was, unfortunately, typical of the Aotearoa battery hen farms; thousands of cages hens in a dark and poorly ventilated shed. There were between seven and ten hens in each cage within very little room to move. All of the hens were de-beaked; this where the top part of the beak is cut down using a cauterizing (hot) blade. This is carried out on the chicks before they are ten days old and is justified by the industry who says that it is necessary to avoid hens pecking at each other's feathers. Many of the hens had also lost alot of their feathers from rubbing against the cage wire and from feather peaking. Feather pecking results from the severe lack of space and barren living conditions which causes the hens to misdirect their natural instinct to peck and forage towards their fellow cages mates.
After the tour Alana said the following of her experience ‘I was surprised at how many chickens are kept in the sheds. I have seen photos and video images before, but nothing I saw really portrays what they are truly like. The smell, and the noises, and standing next to the cages looking up at them stacked on top of each other is something you cannot get from a photo. As well as seeing the state the chickens are in, you feel a personal connection when you look them in the eye.'
She went on to say ‘It is very shocking, and I am thinking I will go vegan in the new year. I did not realised that the 'free range hens ' start their lives the same as the battery hens, and that the male chicks are killed in such a horrible way either way. ( I don't know why I had never realised this, I guess I just hadn't thought about it really )'
