Was Chicken Licken An Abused Hen?

The United States produces about 100 billion eggs, with Americans consuming an average of more than 250 eggs a year. The above fact seems harmless and simple doesn’t it? The truth however, is that there is an epidemic of chicken abuse occurring daily to provide you with the main ingredient for your scrambled egg breakfast.

In days of yore when Ma and Pa Kettle were running the farm, the chickens had the run of the roost as well as the living room. They were free-range birds that foraged for themselves and ate at the farmyard buffet as they pleased. Everyone, including the chickens, seemed to be happy. As the world modernized and the demand for eggs increased, our happy little cluckers had to become more disciplined and productive.

Eventually, chicken farms became known as industrial animal agriculture systems. Five or six hens were confined in wire cages called battery cages and fed a diet of carefully selected grains, additives and assorted chemicals. Egg production zoomed and again everyone seemed happy.

Then The Humane Society of the USA disagreed. The president of the society claimed, “Battery cages represent the most intensive form of confinement in factory farming today. The cages are so restrictive that the birds cannot even spread their wings.” The Humane Society argued that the birds were packed in so tightly that they also could not engage in other natural chicken behaviors such as nesting, dust bathing, perching and foraging. I don’t know about you, but these restrictions certainly pull at my heartstrings.

Naturally, it didn’t take long before thousands of animal right’s activists took up the cause of the hapless hens and denounced the factory type of egg production. The movement continues to grow and increasing numbers of people are demanding that stores and restaurants only provide and sell eggs laid by uncaged birds. Chicken Licken must no longer be abused!

I don’t really have any problem with eating eggs that have been laid in the dirt or in a cage. It doesn’t really matter to me. What really strikes me however are the number and strength of animal right’s groups that seem to constantly be making news. It seems they are either, saving the whales, protesting seal hunts, counting whooping cranes or as in this case, uncaging the 280 million hens currently working to provide eggs for your Grand Slam Breakfast at Dennys.

I often feel that there are more people devoted to protecting animal rights than there are to protecting the rights of the homeless, the destitute and so many disadvantaged children! Perhaps the Humane Society also needs to spend a little more time fighting for the humane treatment of humans!