Oooh, industrial barns...
"And often, Kastel says, industrial fans that suck..."
Oooh, industrial fans. As opposed to the ones that grow on trees.
"One of the most common causes of death was pecking by other chickens."
You mean we give them more freedom, and they kill each other? I thought 'natural' was meant to mean all rainbows and happiness and shit.
They are in crowded conditions. Humans do the same things will kept locked up in crowded conditions.
What are you arguing is akin to saying that humans need to be locked up in solitary confinement because if you keep them "free" in close quarters they will start committing acts of violence against each other. You would have a hard time arguing that the Japanese in US/Canadian "relocation centres" should have been kept in solitary confinement because there were instances of "inmate-on-inmate" violence/rape.
Many animals do. Goats are downright nasty little shits with each-other, if they have horns (even w/o)
Hens very much have a "pecking order", and can be pretty brutal to one another even with ample space to roam and feed. Don't get me started on most roosters, though we did raise some that were downright gentlemanly to their ladies. Quail in crowded conditions (we raised Coturnix) can damned near skin each-other alive if a sufficiently picked-on bird gets too damaged.
Either bird will pick at open wounds on others. Not certain what that behavior was about, but is ain't good for the birds in either case.
I somehow doubt that you've actually talked to many vs. just holding some gross generalization of an idea about what "those people" think.
That said, I don't think continuing this thread further provides any value, and has the potential to just devolve into a flame war for various reasons.
Yes, as in "not the red family farm barn they have on the packaging".
> You mean we give them more freedom, and they kill each other? I thought 'natural' was meant to mean all rainbows and happiness and shit.
Imagine a prison where you've replaced all the individual cells with one big cramped holding cell. Violence will break out.
I'm saying chicken/dairy/etc. producers will happily use this stereotypical image in their marketing, but the reality of how they're raising the animals is very different.
-Land O Lakes butter is not hand delivered by pretty Native American ladies.[1]
-Tigers don't actually eat Frosted Flakes and you should not let them play baseball with your children.[2]
-Many, many, many other examples of the gap between marketing and reality.
[1] http://static.atlantablackstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/0...