private broiler companies and most are content to achieve
70%fallingintoproperlytrimmedcategories....Replacement
pulletshavetheirbeakstrimmedbycrewswhoarepaidfor
quantity rather than quality work.^7
Evenwhentheoperationisdonecorrectly,itisamistaketo
thinkofitasapainlessprocedure,likecuttingtoenails.Asan
expert British government committee under zoologist
Professor F. W. Rogers Brambell found some years ago:
Between the horn and the bone is a thin layer of highly
sensitive soft tissue, resembling the“quick” ofthe human
nail.
Thehotknifeusedindebeakingcutsthroughthiscomplexof
horn, bone and sensitive tissue, causing severe pain.^8
Moreoverthedamagedonetothebirdbydebeakingislong
term:chickensmutilatedinthiswayeatlessandloseweight
forseveralweeks.^9 Themostlikelyexplanationforthisisthat
theinjuredbeakcontinuestocausepain.J.BrewardandM.J.
Gentle, researchers at the British Agricultural and Food
ResearchCouncil’sPoultryResearchCentre,investigatedthe
beakstumpsofdebeaked hensandfoundthatthedamaged
nervesgrewagain,turninginonthemselvestoformamassof
intertwiningnervefibers,calledaneuroma.Theseneuromas
havebeenshowninhumanswithamputatedstumpstocause
bothacuteandchronicpain.BrewardandGentlefoundthat
this is probably also the casein theneuromas formed by
debeaking.^10 Subsequently Gentle,expressing himself with
thecautiontobeexpectedfromapoultryscientistwritingina
scientific journal, has said: