Yesterday I watched a video from goveg.com that focused on the live grinding on male chicks in a hatchery. I found it very disturbing. I have tried to find a link to it this morning but cannot. I wonder if they received a take down notice from the hatchery where it was filmed. It was filmed by PETA.
Had I known about this practice before? Yes.
On the one hand, the cold hearted business side of me can see the reason for getting rid of the male chicks. What do you do with a few hundred thousand male leghorn birds that have no purpose? Female leghorns are bred to produce eggs. They have no meat on them. They have only one purpose – to lay eggs. The male chicks can’t do that.
On the other hand, grinding live animals in a meat grinder is horrible. There is no other way to describe it. I have had nightmares about meat grinders (I’m not kidding) in the past. Lori and Aidan both watched the video with me and were horrified too.
I really do not eat a lot of chicken. Go figure, I am the beef guy.
I eat a lot of eggs for breakfast though. Our species worked hard to get to the top of the food chain (except for those damn bears and lions which find us tasty I have heard). We are part of a larger ecosystem. Eating eggs is what mammals do. Eating birds is what meat eaters do. I do not have a problem with eating meat or eggs. In fact, I love eating meat and eggs.
But grinding up live birds in a meat grinder? That is just wrong.
Time to find a nice dual purpose breed and get back to raising our own chickens.
I think I’ll put that on my to do list.
