A COK Report:
Animal Suffering in the Egg Industry

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Slaughter

Birds are not protected by the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.(74) Dr. John Boyce wrote that the egg industry and the American Veterinary Medical Association "oppose humane slaughter legislation for laying hens on the basis that their low economic value does not justify the cost of 'humane slaughter technology.'"(75) Dr. Duncan states that "of all the animal welfare problems faced by the poultry industry today, the disposal of spent laying hens probably is the most serious."(76)

At the slaughter facility, the hens are shackled by their legs and hung upside-down, a process which breaks bones and causes bruising and stress.(77) The weakened bones of the hens make it "difficult to shackle the bird properly without causing pain."(78) The birds are then stunned in an electrified water bath, which is supposed to render them unconscious. Because tetany and muscular spasms accompany electrical stunning and can cause further bone breakage, the intensity of the stun is often reduced. This raises the risk of improper stunning before slaughter.(79) Other variables, such as size differences and conductivity of individual birds, also affect the success of the stunning process.(80) As a result, many smaller birds are slaughtered without being stunned, because they do not reach the water of the electrical bath.(81)

The hens are then passed over a circular blade, which slits their throats. After fully bleeding, they are put in the "scalding tank" in order to loosen feathers. If the hens are not properly stunned, there is a greater chance of them missing the cutting blade, resulting in birds entering the scalding tank alive and conscious.(82, 83)

Many solutions to the problem of the disposal of spent laying hens have been suggested. Most methods involve killing the birds on the farm, but, to date, none has proven effective.(84) The least inhumane method would be to gas the hens while still in their cages with an argon mixture, but this presents the problem of removal once the bodies have become stiffened by rigor mortis. Drs. Webster and D.L. Fletcher have suggested the development of a portable gas stunning and killing cabinet, into which the hens could be placed upon removal from their cages.(85) However, all methods performed on the farm render the birds unfit for human consumption, which means their bodies would need to be composted. This appears very wasteful to the public, and the egg industry is reluctant to impose any of these alternatives.(86)

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