Re: Chicken Lice?

0tterbot wrote:
"Jill" <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:45eab9ad$0$8733$ed2619ec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

the people report that
eventually the battery hens begin to exhibit "normal hen" behaviour
based on no experience or observation.

Indeed. But no one has proven that without the ability to do this that the hens "realise" they are bereft.
It gives birds consciousness that they simply do not have.


hm... what about those (extremely rare, obviously) cases where a human is brought up in total confinement & never learns to do "human things"? those people similarly are unlikely to be able to put their finger on exactly what they're missing, due to lack of _experience_, _despite_ their innate intelligence. or even, the (sadly, common) cases of animals - even intelligent ones - in total confinement who experience the same thing.

these people/animals are obviously as intelligent as other people/animals of their species, but with these things it might be a case of "what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't miss". you _can't_ pine specifically for something you've never seen, heard of or experienced no matter what species you are! but to say that means "no stress" might just not be correct. indeed, i'm not sure how it can be. the creature isn't able to identify exactly what it is "missing", but must still feel the pull of instinctive behaviours, otherwise it doesn't make sense that liberated (ahem) creatures then begin to indulge in "instinctive" behaviours for their kind. does it?

Some do, some don't. Remember that unfortunate whale that was "liberated" into a Norwegian fjord and never got the hang of whaleness. This seemed to me to be a triumph of ideology over compassion.

Ex-battery chooks I have known have quickly overcome their gobsmacked bewilderment and revelled in being chooks. But then the battery system doesn't provide the chooks with a human "family" unlike circus animals, or the whale that grew too big for the aquarium - or perhaps it was purely about "keeping animals for people's amusement is cruelty by definition".


now, i'm not aligning chicken-brains with human brains or the brains of higher-functioning species, but the fact remains that we are all animals and there are many more similarities between us than many people would like to admit. it's easier for a person who keeps birds/animals in less-than-ideal conditions to justify it by claiming that the animal "doesn't know" any better because it's not intelligent enough, & doesn't "miss" anything anyway, and therefore isn't suffering on any level.

I knew I was bored stupid long before I knew what a big library and a variety of people and readily-accessible activities were. Don't see why an animal should be so much different.

A L P
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry
    ... the hens would lay 5-6 eggs in a clutch ... >this with modern breeds of domestic hen, which lay more than 300 eggs ... >conjured up to disguise the cruelty involved in egg production. ... >Keeping animals in such confined, ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: From Shell to Hell: the modern egg industry
    ... the hens would lay 5-6 eggs in a clutch ... >this with modern breeds of domestic hen, which lay more than 300 eggs ... >conjured up to disguise the cruelty involved in egg production. ... >Keeping animals in such confined, ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: The Good Life
    ... campaigning for CAGE-free hens and specifically states a preference ... Following CIWF's ten-year campaign animals are now legally recognised ... up - personally I would rather go without eggs than buy caged hens ...
    (uk.rec.equestrian)
  • Re: Culling
    ... I think she found that being in a pen full of young roosters wasn't all ... they aren't at all confused about who the hens are. ... I have always liked animals, but I don't have any misconceptions about ... lay) seems to like us -- or maybe it's the bugs that we hand to her. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Loading single word to a xmm register
    ... animals, is above my head.// ... Maybe the desease came from the ... Now, here, "they" decide that the hens would be confined (forbidden to ... confinement. ...
    (alt.lang.asm)