Animals on Factory Farms / 43ior toward hens. Chickens require and enjoy many of the same
behaviors that other birds engage in, such as taking dust and sun
baths. Given the opportunity, they will roost in trees, just as other
birds do.
The “Old McDonald’s farm” where hens, chicks, and the oblig-
atory rooster move about in a sunny farmyard scarcely exists any-
more. Farmyards such as these might provide eggs, milk, and meat
for one family, but no farmer can make a living this way today.
Ninety-fi ve percent of the billions of animals annually raised for
food are chickens. Most of these—an estimated nine billion—are
raised for meat. The increased use of poultry in fast food and low-
fat diets, combined with export demand, makes chicken the most
popular meat. The production of chicken for meat has increased
from just over thirty-four thousand birds in 1934 to over eight mil-
lion in 2004. In 1960, the average American consumed just over
nineteen pounds of chicken a year. By 2001, annual consumption
had increased to over fi fty-four pounds.^8
The demand for chicken changed the way the birds are raised.
Chickens were the fi rst animals to be raised in intensive confi ne-
ment. Beginning on a large scale in the 1950s, some breeds of chick-
ens were bred exclusively for meat, rather than egg production.
These breeds are known as broilers, named by the poultry industry
as an end product even from birth. They spend their six-week lives
in windowless sheds called grower houses. Lighting is minimized to
limit aggression and reduce activity, so that all caloric intake goes
to body weight rather than other energy expenditures. To be prof-
itable, broiler operations usually house between 20,000 and 50,000
birds in a single grower house.^9 A typical operation consists of at
least four such buildings. Flocks of between 150,000 to 300,000
birds are common on a single site. Even so-called free-range chicken
comes from confi ned birds. At current consumption rates, we do not
have enough land in the United States to give each bird the space
required for spreading wings, much less establishing territory, nest-
ing, dust bathing, and doing what comes naturally to chickens.
The individual farmer who raises the chickens is known as a
contract grower or a producer. He or she receives chicks as young