Processing/slaughter Chickens are stunned (rendered unconscious) before slaughter. In Australia, stunning occurs either by electrical waterbath stunning or controlled atmosphere (gas) stunning). Chickens have to be removed from their crates and be consciously shackled for the electrical stunning process.
At slaughter, broiler chickens are shackled upside down to a moving processing line. As they move along this line, they pass through a bath of electrified water intended to stun them. Then a blade cuts their throat. After that, the birds are dunked in boiling water to help to defeather their carcass.
Chickens possess a highly developed nervous system and experience pain when injured and killed. Chickens also have complex cognitive and emotional capacities, which result in emotional distress and suffering during slaughter.
Australian chickens are not given hormones or steroids in any way. Their size and robust growth occurs naturally due to selective breeding, animal husbandry and optimal nutrition.”
For chickens, stunning is usually done by electrocution. After the birds have been shackled by their legs, the slaughter line drags them through a vat of water that has been electrified.
Slaughtering poultry
Birds remain in their transport crates and are placed into a gas system, where they're exposed to mixtures of air and gas, until dead. This method avoids the need to handle and 'shackle' live birds, so has some welfare advantages.
Animals must be fully stunned—unconscious and insensible to pain—before they're shackled, strung up, and slaughtered. But so many animals remain alert to what's happening through to the very end. Animals must also be able to walk into the slaughterhouse on their own.
Growth hormones found in meat could have a substantial effect on prepubescent children. If a child isn't yet producing growth hormones themselves, consumption of these growth hormones through either meat or dairy products could enter the child into puberty around seven months earlier, a study has found.
If it's beef raised without added hormones you're looking for, you'll want to look for beef donning labels that read “USDA Organic,” “no added hormones,” or “no hormones ever.” And you'll want to steer clear of “natural” and “hormone-free” like verbiage.
Are hormones used in Australian beef? Hormonal growth promotants (HGPs) – naturally occurring hormones or synthetic alternatives – are used in cattle to optimise weight gain and help produce the highest quality red meat, without causing any stress or discomfort to the animal.
Here in the United States, however, poultry plants—exempt from the Humane Slaughter Act and still clinging to the industry myth that a dead animal won't bleed properly—keep the stunning current down to about one-tenth that needed to render a chicken unconscious.” This means that chickens are still completely conscious ...
Cow cries before slaughter. They sense their final destiny. Don't be a reason behind their suffering.
A grieving hen avoids interacting with the flock and sits in a corner with puffed-up feathers like a chicken that feels ill. Some mourn only temporarily, but others never seem to recover from the loss of a flockmate.
Tilt the bird's head well back, so it points towards the tail of the bird (this position aligns the joints so that it is much easier to dislocate the head from the neck). Firmly push the head away from your body until you feel the head separate (you will definitely feel the joint let go).
The most humane methods are those which cause a rapid loss of blood so that death is brought about as quickly as possible. These include ventral neck cuts (for poultry, sheep and goats) and chest sticking (for cattle, sheep, goats and pigs).
Australian laws require animals to be 'stunned' unconscious prior to having their throats cut. For cattle, this is normally done using a device called a 'captive bolt gun' which delivers a forceful strike to the forehead to induce unconsciousness.
Insulin growth factor (IGF-1) is a hormone found naturally in the body and is similar to insulin. One concern with using rBST in cows is its potential to increase IGF-1 level in the blood and increase incidences of certain types of cancer; however, there are vital factors to consider.
No Added Hormones or Steroids
Despite this label appearing on many chicken products found in the store, no chicken you buy is ever given added hormones or steroids. In fact, the use of such added or artificial hormones is forbidden by law by the FDA and this must be noted on the label.
In fact, the USDA has banned all hormones and steroids in poultry since the 1950s. No hormones or steroids are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in poultry, and doing so via the water, feed or injection is specifically prohibited by law.
Despite what you may hear, no artificial or added hormones are used in the production of any poultry in the United States. Regulations of the Food & Drug Administration prohibit the use of such hormones.
As stilbenes are protein hormones which would be broken down after ingestion and become non-functional, they need to be given by frequent injections or pellet (e.g. hexoestrol) implanted under the skin.
In slaughterhouses, animals also experience fear and pain before they die. Some of the torments they undergo are described below, starting with aquatic animals, who make up the majority of farmed animals.
Given how many animals are stunned the wrong way, leaving them conscious through the worst moments of their lives, it's safe to say that thousands upon thousands do feel pain, not only before the slaughter but during it. It helps that little lambs often don't scream while being slaughtered.
The sound of pigs screaming can be heard echoing throughout the walls of slaughterhouses and even factory farms. Their cries are loud and piercing: clear signs of distress.