Learn to hate the egg industry.

PETA tv exposes the egg industry. Download the video here.

Birds raised for their eggs, called “laying hens” by the industry, live together in wire cages which measure about 45 by 50 cm. Each cage holds five to eleven hens, so in the best scenario there's five hens living in a space about the size of my file drawer. The birds have part of their sensitive beaks cut off so that they won’t peck each other as a result of the frustration created by the unnatural confinement.

The cages are stacked on top of each other, and the excrement from chickens in the higher cages constantly falls on those below. This of course is a breeding ground for many diseases and, for example, severe eye infections are common.

Periodically the hens are forced into a molt, this is done by depriving them of food for about two weeks, which induces an extra laying cycle. After two years in these conditions, the hens’ bodies are exhausted, and their egg production drops, the natural lifespan of a chicken is 15-20 years.

By the time they are sent to slaughter, almost a third of the hens are suffering from broken bones resulting from neglect and rough treatment. They will break many more during the transport, 90 percent of all chickens arriving to slaughter have broken bones. The bodies of laying hens are so damaged that their flesh can generally be used only for chicken soup or animal food.

Because the male chicks of egg-laying breeder hens are unable to lay eggs, and are not bred to produce excessive flesh, they are worthless to both the egg industry and the meat industry. So male chicks are suffocated, or are thrown into high-speed grinders called macerators, or simply just left to die on their own in a dumpster.

Hate it some more. View the film Silent Suffer made by MFA during their investigation of the egg industry.