USDA Breeds 'Kinder, Gentler' Chickens
Chickens that are bred purely for commercial egg production (laying hens) tend to be mean to the point of pecking each other to death and then eating their victims -- a real downer around the roost and a definite drawback to egg-laying. Now biologists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) report the development of a breed of “kinder, gentler” laying hens that get along better, still lay plenty of eggs, but do not need to have their beaks trimmed off, like commercially-bred hens.
According to the ARS, the new line of hens are far less aggressive, yet maintain “industry-standard” egg output while making chicken tenders out of each other far less often. In fact, in ARS test flocks, the mortality rate among the new gentler hens was only 20 percent, compared to a grizzly 89 percent among the commercially-bred hens.
The ARS research represented the first time in over 50 years that a laying hen breeding program had focused on behavioral traits, rather than egg-producing traits. “For instance, through more than 20 years of breeding selection, egg production has increased significantly in one commercial line of laying hens, while mortality due to aggression and cannibalism among the birds with untrimmed beaks has also increased about 10-fold,” noted the ARS in a press release.
According to lead ARS researcher Heng-wei Cheng, the selective breeding program had turned “survival of the fittest” -- emphasizing the individual -- into “survival of the adequate,” emphasizing the group.
In a phenomenon that could have an impact on human behavioral research, the brains of the new gentler chickens produced decreased levels of dopamine, a substance associated with dysfunctional behavior and reduced ability to deal with stress in humans.
Factory Farming No Gentler: News of the gentler laying hens will offer little comfort to animal rights advocates who oppose all forms of factory farming, “the modern practice of raising animals for food in extreme confinement, in order to maximize profits,” as defined by Animal Rights Guide Doris Lin. “In addition to intense confinement, abuses usually associated with factory farming include massive doses of hormones and antibiotics, battery cages, debeaking, tail docking, gestation crates, and veal crates,” states Lin.
Also See:
The Facts About Factory Farming (Animal Rights)
USDA Buys 3 Million Pounds of Asparagus
USDA Maps Advance of Killer African Bees
Comments
Coward.