Day 108 - 27 Mar 95 - Page 35
1 Q. Is that something that you find with the battery chickens
2 that you have kept?
3 A. No, no, because they are not bred for meat, they are
4 bred for eggs, so they are skinny but good egg producers.
5 The others are fat but not nearly such good egg producers.
6
7 Q. Is there a difference in the amount of food they eat?
8 A. Yes, a broiler chicken -- I have not measured it but
9 I think they are -- you could call them "greedy" in quotes;
10 they do eat very keenly, yes.
11
12 Q. I do not know if you wanted to go on to the breeding stock
13 since we have touched on it: What are the problems that
14 you see in relation to the broiler industry and breeding of
15 broiler chickens?
16 A. Well, I think the main problem is the severe feed
17 restriction, and I understand that they are debeaked quite,
18 perhaps all of them, but certainly was it Dr. Pattison was
19 saying the that the Sun Valley value ones are debeaked
20 which is a mutilation, and also the very large numbers they
21 are kept in, thousands at a time, and very repeated matings
22 for the females. They often get worn out back feathers.
23
24 I think it must be a very, very stressful situation. Head
25 shaking in the females has been observed and that is a sign
26 of stress. It is a very -- totally abnormal way of keeping
27 of birds living. They are in a totally abnormal situation
28 and a stressful one.
29
30 Q. Going back to the hunger. I think there is a paper which
31 you have supplied. It is it should be in the same bundle
32 at document No. 30?
33 A. Yes.
34
35 Q. It is the supplementary bundle 2, again. This is the
36 "Assessment of Hunger in Growing Boiler Breeders in
37 relation to a Commercial Restricted Feeding Programme"?
38 A. Yes.
39
40 Q. By Savory and others. This is 1993.
41 A. I think the problem is summed up in the abstract at the
42 end of it: "The modern broiler breeder industry is caught
43 in a welfare dilemma, since on the one hand stock appear to
44 be chronically hungry, while on the other hand less severe
45 food restriction leads to reduced fertility and health
46 problems." That does sum the situation up.
47
48 Q. Right, and although you were not keeping your chickens as
49 broiler breeders, that is what you found with the chickens
50 you kept?
51 A. Yes, I fed them ad lib. I took the decision to,
52 because I would have been unhappy doing otherwise, and they
53 died prematurely.
54
55 Q. I think there were a couple of parts in the following page,
56 perhaps?
57 A. Yes, it makes it clear here: "With poultry, the
58 commonest form of food restriction is that applied to
59 parent stock (breeders) of meat-type chickens (broilers).
60 The ultimate reason is that genetic selection for faster
