long as their smaller counterparts, before they meet their
end.^25
“Ahen,”SamuelButleroncewrote,“isonlyanegg’swayof
makinganotheregg.”Butler,nodoubt,thoughthewasbeing
funny; but when Fred C. Haley, president of a Georgia
poultryfirmthatcontrolsthelivesof225,000laying hens,
describesthehenas“aneggproducingmachine”hiswords
have more serious implications. To emphasize his
businesslikeattitude,Haleyadds,“Theobject ofproducing
eggsistomakemoney.Whenweforgetthis objective,we
have forgotten what it is all about.”^26
Nor is this only an American attitude. A British farming
magazine has told its readers:
Themodernlayeris,afterall,onlyaveryefficientconverting
machine,changingtherawmaterial—feedingstuffs—intothe
finished product—the egg—less, of course, maintenance
requirements.^27
Theideathatthelayerisanefficientwaytoturnfeedinto
eggsiscommonintheindustrytradejournals,particularlyin
advertisements.Asmaybeanticipated,itsconsequencesfor
the laying hens are not good.
Laying hens go through many of the same procedures as
broilers,buttherearesomedifferences.Likebroilers,layers
havetobedebeaked,topreventthecannibalismthatwould
otherwiseoccurintheircrowdedconditions;butbecausethey
live muchlonger thanbroilers,they oftengo through this
operation twice. Sowe find poultryspecialist Dick Wells,
head of Britain’s National Institute of Poultry Husbandry,