1. Male chicks don't serve any purpose to the farming industry so upon birth, male and female chicks are sorted, then the male chicks are sent to be ground up ALIVE. Wondering why the male chicks are used for meat? Egg laying chickens are different from chickens that are used for meat, also known as broiler chickens, which are bred to be a factory standard size which makes it easier for them to be put into the slaughter machine.
3. More than 80% of antibiotics used in the United States are given to livestock, not humans. Factory farmed animals are forced to live in such inhumane and dirty conditions that massive amounts of antibiotics are needed to keep the animals healthy enough for slaughter. Keep in mind, these animals are being fed antibiotics and antibiotic filled, processed food, which then you are eating! While it may seem like these drugs could be inadvertently protecting consumers from disease, it actually is quite the opposite. We consume massive amounts of antibiotics just from the meat we are eating and thus have become immune to many antibiotics that we would need if we were sick.
4. Egg-laying hens are sometimes starved for up to 14 days, exposed to changing light patterns and given no water in order to shock their bodies into molting. It’s common for 5% to 10% of hens to die during the forced molting process.
5. Calves bred for veal are kept in tiny, dark containers so small that they can hardly move around. Often times they are chained to the ground so that they can't move around and build muscle so that their flesh stays tender. They are also fed a synthetic formula so that they will be anemic in order to keep their flesh pale, as desired by consumers.
6. The majority of chickens, turkeys and ducks raised on factory farms have their beaks cut or burned off, and without anesthetic, to keep the chickens from pecking each other to death and to avoid cannibalism, which is common in distressed birds.
7. Pregnant sows are kept in gestation crates, cages so small it is impossible for them to turn around. They have slatted concrete underneath to make it easy for manure and waste to fall into bins beneath but because they are unnatural surfaces for hogs, they often develop painful skeletal disorders. Shortly after giving birth they are moved to “farrowing crates,” which basically gestation crates except a bit bigger to fit nursing piglets.
8. 65% of hogs tested from factory farms had pneumonia. This is due to the massive amounts of manure that the pigs are surrounded by while being confined in small concrete cages.
9. Newborn pigs often have their teeth pulled out with pliers and their tails cut off, without any aesthetic.
10. 90% of broiler chicken are unable to walk due to genetic manipulation. The bones and muscles in their legs are unable to cope with the sheer weight of their bodies.
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