Tucker shares unbiased facts about chickens and debunks some myths that animal rights âactivistsâ try to lie about!
I love how this graphic claims to give âunbiased chicken factsâ to counter âliesâ from animal rights activists but is actually just a graphic from a farmer (so massively biased) with a heck load of propaganda and lies. Also love how its doesnât actually address the fact that animal rights activists donât advocate for the rights of these animals because of intelligence, but because of their sentience.Â
Just a few examples of research from sources which are not animal rights organisations, because unlike the graphic author (who is a farmer), I think facts are important:Â
~ Protective mother hens: cognitive influences on the avian maternal response: âWe conclude that the protective maternal response of domestic hens is not solely driven by chick distress cues; rather, hens integrate these with their own knowledge to produce a potentially adaptive, flexible and context-dependent responseâÂ
~ From the university of Bristol:Â âWe found that adult female birds possess at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of âempathyâ; the ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another.â
~Â Arithmetic in newborn chicks from the very well respected journal of The Royal Society:Â âResults suggest impressive proto-arithmetic capacities in the young and relatively inexperienced chicks of this precocial speciesâ
~ Can domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, show self-control? âWhile hens were impulsive in the standard condition, they showed significant and pronounced self-control in the jackpot conditionâ
~ From the Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol: âHens exhibited signs of stress-induced hyperthermia only when their perception of threat was in accordance with that of their chicks. Chick behaviour was influenced by the hensâ expectations, with all chick groups spending more time distress vocalizing and less time preening when in the environment that the hen associated with threat. We conclude that the protective maternal response of domestic hens is not solely driven by chick distress cues; rather, hens integrate these with their own knowledge to produce a potentially adaptive, flexible and context-dependent response.â
~Â Discrimination of group members by laying hens Gallus domesticus:Â â All test birds showed strong evidence of discrimination above conventional levels of significance indicating that laying hens are able to discriminate between members of their own social group.â
~Â Domestic hens have declarative representations
On Heath:Â
~ Eggs: In terms of health, even the must ânutritiousâ eggs are not good for health. In fact its not even legal for the egg industry to advertise their products as a âprotein-rich foodâ, âhealthfulâ or that they âcontribute healthful componentsâ, they are not even allowed to claim eggs are âgood for youâ, an âimportant part of well-balanced, healthy dietâ, or even âsafeâ. only that they âcan reduce hungerâ. So they are absolutely not classed as a âsuperfoodâ Thatâs just a lie. The truth is that with every food we consume, weâre getting the whole package, not just a few nutrients. So, while some eggs may have some more beneficial vitamins or minerals than others (easily found elsewhere) the harmful components far outweigh any benefits. Some links here and here and here.Â
~ On chicken flesh: Some links here and here and here and here and here.Â
And some more links:Â
~ Â Some links on the egg industry here and here a great article here and some alternatives to eggs here.
~ Land of hope and glory (a documentary set in the UK)
~ Dominion (another documentary wet in Australia)
~ Viva info on chickens
~ The Unavoidably Violent History of Backyard Eggs
~ Â This fab article by @acti-vegâ
And yes, the act of taking away an egg layed by a hen does indeed sends signals to the henâs body to make a replacement. So yes, the more eggs you take the more eggs the hens will produce which puts extra strain on their already heavily strained bodies theyâve been bred into. And I have no clue why the maker of the graphic is trying to pretend that this isnât the case. Its not like other farmers are trying to pretend that taking away a hens eggs results in her body laying more eggs. Most farmers (and those who exploit hens for âbackyard eggsâ) are very open both with this fact.Â
Just out of interest, what do you think that âunbiasedâ actually meansâŚ?
I just want to highlight their repost of this, as itâs such a great example of how industry advocates operate. The rational, polite and well sourced rebuttals are dismissed as âlol triggeredâ and fair questions are ignored, since they know full well that they canât answer any of the legitimate points made. People like this rely on confirmation bias, because they know that none of their claims will stand up to even a small amount of scrutiny, hence the statement above. Usually this is done in a more subtle way, but this person has come right out and said it:
If you have any questions or concerns about animal agriculture, do not trust your own research, instead ask someone who directly profits from animal agriculture to give you an honest account of what happens in their own industry, since you can trust them to give a completely unbiased account irrespective of their obvious vested interests.
This is an absolute textbook example of propaganda and is so often repeated and widely supported on this platform. People are all too willing to accept claims like these without checking them, since they align with their existing values and behaviours. Yet we wouldnât trust a corporation to tell us the truth about how their workers are treated, so why do we trust farmers to be honest about how they treat the animals they exploit?
