More than 50 Billion chickens are reared annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs.
The vast majority of poultry are raised in factory farms. According to the world watch institute, 74% of the world’s poultry meat and 68% of eggs are produced this way.
One alternative to intensive farming is free range farming.
Friction between these two main methods has led to long-term issues of ethical consumerism. Opponents of intensive farming argue that it harms the environment, creates human health risks and is inhumane.
Advocates of intensive farming say that their highly efficient systems save land and food resources owing to increased productivity, and that the animals are looked after in the state-of-the-art environmentally controlled facilities.
In part due to the conditions on intensive poultry farms and recent recalls of large quantities of eggs, there is a growing movement for small-scale micro-flocks or ‘backyard chickens’. This involves keeping small numbers of hens (usually no more than a dozen) in suburban or urban residential areas to control bugs, to utilize chicken waste as fertilizer in small gardens, and of course for the high-quality eggs and meat that are produced.
Chickens farmed for eggs are called egg-laying hens.
In total, the UK alone consumes over 29 million eggs per day. Some hens breed scan produce over 300 eggs per year, with “the highest authenticated rate of egg laying being 371 eggs in 364 days”. After 12 months of laying, the commercial hen’s egg-laying ability starts to decline to the point where the flock is unviable. Hens, particularly from battery cage systems, are sometimes infirm or have lost a significant amount of their feathers, and their life expectancy has been reduced from around seven years to less than two years.