When a chicken lays an egg

[*crikey*mate*]

does it hurt?

[cherry*135]

Not being a chicken myself, I don't feel qualified to answer that question. 

[freddie*rooster]

Why is your chicken crying?

[*crikey*mate*]

your picture made me cry, Freddie. Not in a mean way. Your poor arm and that mask.

Then when I read the thread about the chickens, I wrote a comment something like "suffering is suffering and it is all relative to the one experiencing it. And it made me think of that picture. Cos that's just suffering that I just can't comprehend, but you did that for so long.

I don't know how to explain that better.

But then I was thinking the hens in cages don't know any better, they have never experienced any better treatment, so are they suffering? really?

Then I was thinking that a woman giving birth usually hurts (apparently) and a chicken also has to get that egg out of a small place and they have to do it every day!

Then I was thinking about if it hurts when a chicken lays an egg, then they are still suffering, even if they live on a farm with wide open spaces.

Then I thought of your picture again and it made me sad again.

I don't know you, but I'm sorry you had to go through that. and I'm guessing the 1000 words that picture had to tell are only a very concise summary of the suffering that you did go through.

[tasfleur]

..

[cherry*135]

Yes, there is lots of suffering & pain in the world and our petty annoyances and grievances don't rate a mention compared to that.

Caged Hens

• A battery hen spends her entire life laying cramped inside a shared cage.
• She will never see the sky.
• Each cage holds 3 to 7 hens.
• Each hen's floor area is only 450 cm squared, about 3/4 of the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
• With her wings outstretched, a hen is twice the size of a typical battery cage.

The caged hens look so bad, crikey, when they hen farmers don't want them anymore. Some people adopt them and give them a good, happy home. I had some friends do that...they were tragic looking things.. their feathers get rubbed off in places from rubbing against the cage and they are scrawny.

In Australia, caged eggs come from the 10.5 million caged hens in battery farms.

[tasfleur]

Sorry Freddie, I thought this thread was a light hearted fun thing;  I didn't realise it was a continuation of something quite different so I've asked for the chicken picture to be removed ... 

[*crikey*mate*]

---

@am*3 wrote:

Yes, there is lots of suffering & pain in the world and our petty annoyances and grievances don't rate a mention compared to that.

Caged Hens

• A battery hen spends her entire life laying cramped inside a shared cage.
• She will never see the sky.
• Each cage holds 3 to 7 hens.
• Each hen's floor area is only 450 cm squared, about 3/4 of the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
• With her wings outstretched, a hen is twice the size of a typical battery cage.

The caged hens look so bad, crikey, when they hen farmers don't want them anymore. Some people adopt them and give them a good, happy home. I had some friends do that...they were tragic looking things.. their feathers get rubbed off in places from rubbing against the cage and they are scrawny.

In Australia, caged eggs come from the 10.5 million caged hens in battery farms.

---

I get that, but are we inflicting our feelings onto the chickens? Do they really feel what we do iykwim? Do they feel bad about the conditions in which they are kept if they don't know any differently?

I dunno, to me, I reckon you either accept I want eggs so I am happy to let the chickens suffer so I can have what I want or I am against the chickens having to suffer, so I won't eat eggs at all.

I don't get the " I'll eat these eggs cois the chickens only suffer a little bit" that translates to, "well I like the eggs, so I really don't mind that the chickens do suffer, but I feel better if I don't think the chickens are suffering as much as some other ones."

[*crikey*mate*]

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@tasfleur wrote:

Sorry Freddie, I thought this thread was a light hearted fun thing;  I didn't realise it was a continuation of something quite different so I've asked for the chicken picture to be removed ... 

---

Tas, it really is about the chicken LOLOL

don't feel bad, that was just my thought process when I went through the whole "suffering is relative debate in my head".

I reckon I'll remember that picture for a long time, for me it was pretty profound.

but the thread really is about the chickens and I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread.

so we need your chicken pics cos all threads are worthless without pics!

[j*oono]

I really can't understand your reasoning Crikey.  They don't know that they are suffering because they don't know any better?

Here is the shortened youtube version of the Animals Australia tv ad.  I think those animals know that they are suffering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ-IUWOOUfY