Produce > Kept Animals

What do you do with chickens that have finished laying..

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playground:

PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
In 2008 PETA reached a deal with a large group of KFC Restaurant
franchisees in Canada.


--- Quote ---Under an agreement with PETA signed May 5, KFC Canada will phase-in
over eight years the use of "controlled-atmosphere killing" for all chickens
bought for its restaurants. PETA calls that the "least-cruel form of poultry
slaughter ever developed."

The "CAK" method involves removing oxygen from crates that carry
chickens and replacing it with inert gases such as argon or nitrogen,
PETA spokesman Matt Prescott said Tuesday. The birds do not suffocate
but die painlessly as they breathe the gases, he said.

--- End quote ---

source: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/animal-rights-debate/endnotes/59.pdf


Question:  How much does Argon gas cost ?
Answer:  3 canisters  = £29, 1 canister = £13
The canister regulator costs another £10 (approx)
Each can contains 60L.  If you used the gas efficiently
(using a small bucket) then perhaps you could kill a chicken
with only 6 liters of argon gas.... so 10 dead chickens
per canister.  So let's say £13 (canister) + £10 regulator = £23
(so £2.30 per dead chicken) 
All my numbers are based on ebay prices.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Argon-Pure-Disposable-Welding-Mig-Gas-Bottle-Welders-1369-60-L-Litre-/190673422548?hash=item2c650588d4:m:mau-0ECOSqpGQIqYSq5whCQ

Question:  How much does Nitrogen gas cost ?
1 canister takes 220 Liters and costs £39 (including £9 postage)
6 liters of nitrogen per dead chicken.  So 36 dead chickens per canister.
So let's say £39 (canister) + £10 regulator = £49
(£49 / 36 = £1.33 per dead chicken)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nitrogen-N2-disposable-gas-bottle-cylinder-for-plumbers-and-air-con-installers-/172265138528?hash=item281bcd6960:g:lTwAAOSwR5dXSErL


The PETA argument, is that chickens don't suffocate when breathing in
these 'inert' gases (argon and nitrogen). 

But... in practice, they look a lot like they are suffocating to me. 
I found this video on youtube of a chicken killed with argon gas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV-keeSVXf0

QUESTION: Is the chicken in the above video suffering less
than it would if it's throat was slit, or it's neck was broken ? 

This video doesn't look like the chicken falls asleep and then
dies quietly. 

I wonder if this chap in the video is doing it wrong.
Perhaps... the speed with which the argon is introduced to the
bucket, effectively forces out all the air (oxygen) and the chicken
has no chance to drift into a fatal sleep, it must suffocate with
the sudden absence of oxygen.

I wonder if there are any 'best practice' videos / websites on
how to 'slaughter' chickens with argon/nitrogen.

playground:

Some pertinent quotes taken from the 'free from harm' website:


--- Quote ---Animal welfarists are calling for a gas-based technology that kills
the birds in the transport crates prior to shackling, thus sparing
them the pain, terror and torture of live shackling, electrical shock,
neck cutting, and for millions of birds each year, being scalded alive.
Both neck cutting and carbon dioxide (CO2) are
“distressing and inevitably painful, ”says animal scientist Mohan Raj.
When CO2 levels exceed 30 percent, birds gasp, shake their heads,
and stretch their necks (unsuccessfully) to breathe.

By contrast, birds exposed to pure argon/nitrogen gases apparently
do not experience aversion to these gases, because birds, like humans,
have chemical receptors in their lungs that are very sensitive toCO2,
but they do not have receptors to detect argon or nitrogen.
Presumably, birds exposed to these gases do not experience the
pain, panic, and suffocation caused by CO2 (7).

However, birds exposed to pure argon/nitrogen gases
flap their wings violently as they die, resulting in broken wing bones.
Since these broken wings cannot be marketed to consumers of
“buffalo wings,” the poultry industry will not adopt pure
argon/nitrogen.
--- End quote ---

source:  http://freefromharm.org/farm-animal-welfare/from-poultry-farm-to-plate-the-need-for-legislation-to-protect-chickens-and-turkeys/

Presumably, owners of chickens on allotments and family gardens
just want their chickens to die with the least suffering.  Broken wing
bones happen in 'some' proportion of birds.. what proportion we
are not told.

playground:
Recently, actually today, i learned that Carbon Dioxide gas (CO2)
is used to study panic and panic attacks in human beings.

It doesn't cause people to run around wildly, but it does
cause people emotional distress.

Here are some research papers to illustrate the point.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2492423
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26332431
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26141602

Of-course, human beings are much more sophisticated
than chickens.  And chickens aren't even mammals, so
this evidence doesn't mean that chickens also panic when
exposed to CO2 gas....

...but they behave as if they are panicking.
The video shown in one of the posts above of the 2 chickens
killed with carbon dioxide, didn't go quietly, they went
frantic very quickly after the CO2 gas was introduced.

I'm beginning to wonder if the simplest, cheapest and
least cruel means of killing chickens is either to
'ring their necks' or to chop their heads off...

But... that's easier said than done (for me at least)

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