SAFE Youth Newsletter #6

8/19/2019 SAFE Youth Newsletter #6

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Welcome to Issue Six of the SAFE Youth newsletter.

This EGGciting issue of the SAFE Youth

newsletter is all about chickens! Chickensare intelligent, social animals that love toscratch, forage, and dust-bathe outside.You may not see many chickens outsideon farms throughout New Zealand, though.This is because most of them are kept

indoors, in windowless sheds or cramped

cages, with barely enough space to move.You have the ability to help these chickens!

In this issue we will learn about some of theways you can do that, so let’s get cracking!

ISSUE 6 OF THE SAFE YOUTH NEWSLETTER - FOR KIDS WHO KNOW THAT ANIMALS MATTER

ISSUE 6 – SUMMER/AUTUMN 2016

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ANIMAL PROFILE: Chickens

Lifespan: Chickens can live up to 12 years.There are lots of different names for chickens;here are a few common ones:

Hen: Female chicken.

Rooster: Male chicken.

Pullet: Female chicken (less than a year old).

Cockerel: Male chicken (usually less than a year old).

Layer Hen: Chicken kept for laying eggs.

Broiler Chicken: Chicken kept for meat.

The domestic chicken:

It is thought chickens were domesticated 8,000-10,000years ago. Skeletons of domestic chickens as old as7,500 years have been found in north-eastern China.

Ancestry:

Domestic chickens are descended from the Red junglefowl, a tropical and subtropical member of thePhasianidae family. Their native habitat includes partof India and China as wellas Malaysia, Singapore,Philippines, and Indonesia.Chickens are alsodescendants of dinosaurs,

and may even be theclosest living relative to theTyrannosaurus Rex!

Intensive breeding:Human exploitation of chickens hasdrastically changed some of their naturalprocesses. Chickens raised for meat grow between two-four times faster than normal chickens. This has seriousconsequences for their health and many struggle tomove or even hold their own weight. Layer hens have alsobeen exploited – for their egg production. Wild chickenswould normally lay 10-30 eggs a year, while intensivebreeding has led to chickens that lay 250-300 eggs ayear. This increased production can lead to diseases ofthe reproductive tract, and a depletion of the calcium in achicken’s bones, meaning they are fragile and break easily.

Which came first – the chicken or the egg?

Many of the characteristics of modern chicken’s eggsdeveloped in the dinosaur ancestors of birds. Scientistsestimate that the first eggs evolved around 320 millionyears ago in early reptiles. So you could say that the eggcame before the chicken!

BIRDBRAIN?The term 'birdbrain’, meaningsilly and foolish, only came

about in the 1920s. Beforethat, chickens were admired fortheir protective and nurturingnature as well as their ability tocommunicate with one another.

happy hens

I S S N 2

4 6 3 - 3 2 2 1


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FEATHERSChickens’ feathers not only keepthem warm, they also enablethem to fly and attract a mate,waterproof them, and helpcamouflage them from predators.

CHICKSBaby chickens are born

‘precocial’, meaning that theyare able to walk freely andfeed themselves almost as

soon as they hatch.

LEARNINGChickens are capable oflearning from one another.

Mother hens teach theirchicks behaviours and will

adjust their teaching to suit

the chicks’ abilities.

COMMUNICATIONChickens have over

24 different types ofvocalisations, as well as

visual displays. These callsare distinct and both allowchickens to communicate and

identify one another.

EMOTIONSJust like humans, chickens are

capable of feeling emotions.Some of the emotions they

have been shown to feel arefrustration and anxiety, as well

as joy and friendship.

SMELLChickens’ nasal cavities are

structurally similar to humans’ andthey have been shown to have awell-developed sense of smell.

ANIMALS IN TROUBLEUnfortunately, most chickens in New Zealand are kept inside; they never see or explore outside.

Layer Hens

Around 82% of layer hens are kept in battery cages with atmost 550 cm2 of space; that’s less space than an A4 page.Though these cages will be banned in the year 2022, theyare being replaced with equally cruel ‘colony’ cages where

birds get only 750cm2 of space each. That may sound like alot more, but it is only slightly bigger than an A4 page. Malechicks don’t lay eggs so are seen as a waste product. Theyare killed when only one day old – even free-range farms dothis. Many hens also have their sensitive beaks trimmed,where the tip of the beak is cut off using a hot blade, with nopain relief (free-range hens may also be de-beaked).

Meat Chickens

Chickens raised for meat are killed when only six weeks old.Over 99% of these chickens are kept in big, windowlesssheds up to 150m long and 15m wide. As many as 40,000birds are kept in a single shed, that’s 530cm2 per hen

– less space than a battery cage. That’s like a humanhaving roughly eight pieces of A4 paper to live ontheir whole life. Imagine that!

Free-Range

Free-range meat chickens also live in windowless sheds– but with access to the outdoors. The birds, due to theirintensive breeding, have serious health problems and findwalking painful so may never go outside. They grow too fast

for their skeletons to support them, and have very sore legsand joints. Free-range layer hens may, also, never leave theshed because they are kept in flocks as big as 8-15,000birds and are overwhelmed. These unnaturally large flockscan also cause the birds serious stress!

Unless rescued, chickens in all these systems are killedhaving lived only a fraction of their normal lifespan. Anyfarming systems like these have inherent cruelty; animalsare treated as ‘products’ with little consideration for theirinterests and needs.

Life Expectancy

Of Farmed Chickens:

Layer

Hens

18 months

meat

chickens

six weeks

male layer

chicks

one day

Despite the exploitation and intensive breedinghumans have subjected chickens to, they stillretain many of the instincts, behaviour, andbiology of their wild ancestors, the Red junglefowl.

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EYESIGHTChickens have excellent eyesight, and can

even use each eye independently as well as inconjunction. Together, their eyes weigh about as

much as their brain!

CHICKEN

AND BIOLOGY

CHARACTERISTICS

INTELLIGENCEBirds and humans have beenshown to have similar brainwiring, though they havedistinct brain structures.Chickens can consider thefuture, identify objects whenthey are partly out of view,distinguish different shapes,practise self-restraint, andrecognise more than 100

other chickens’ faces. Theycan also remember facesafter being separated formonths!

SOCIAL Chickens naturally live in groupsof around five-seven birds calleda flock. They form a hierarchy,also known as a pecking order.A hierarchy is a system wherebythe chickens order themselves bydominance or status.

A Colony Battery Cage


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There are over three million hens packed into smallcages in New Zealand, where they are unable to expresstheir natural behaviours. This type of farming existsbecause Kiwis eat around 226 eggs each per year –that’s around one billion eggs a year. If you want to help

these suffering chickens you can stop eating eggs. It’seasy and there are lots of great replacements for them.

· Instead of scrambled eggs you can have scrambledtofu – yum!

· You can use aquafaba, which is the brine from a canof chickpeas, as a replacement for egg white. You canmake meringues with only a can of chickpea brine andhalf a cup of sugar!

·

As an egg replacement in baking you can combineone tablespoon of ground flax seed (aka linseed) withtwo tablespoons of water and set in the fridge for15 minutes. There are many other egg replacers forbaking too, including commercial ones.

GO EGG FREE!3

SAFE is asking Countdown to ditch cage eggs. Youcould write to your local Countdown, or fill out asuggestion card, asking them to stop stocking cageeggs. Supermarkets like to please their customers,so your letter can have a big impact! You can alsogo to the SAFE website and fill in the e-card askingCountdown to stop stocking cage eggs.

www.safe.org.nz/ecards/

ask-countdown-drop-cage-eggs

ASK YOUR LOCAL SUPERMARKETTO GO CAGE-EGG-FREE

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A person who eats chicken causes the equivalentof 1100 days of suffering a year for meat chickens.Because these meat chickens only live for six weeks,this means that for each person who eats chickenthere are around 26 chickens (each year) that sufferfor six weeks and are then slaughtered. If you stopeating chicken, then you are not only preventing thissuffering but you are also saving around 26 chickens.

STOP EATING CHICKENS2

TIPS TO HELP ANIMALSAround 100 million chickens are killed for meat each year in New Zealand and over threemillion are kept in battery cages. Worldwide more than 50 billion chickens are slaughteredevery year. That’s a lot of chickens, but there are heaps of things you can do to help.

A great way to help chickens is to re-home ex-batteryhens that would otherwise be slaughtered. Adoptingchickens is a big responsibility and ex-battery hensoften need more care than regular chickens as well. Itwould be a good idea to learn about their needs beforeyou pick them up. Animal Re-homing has produced agood document on what ex-battery hens will need andhow they will adjust to their new home.

Check out Animal Re-homing’s

battery hen guide at:

www.animalrehoming.co.nz/images/chicken/2011/battery_hen_care_guide.pdf

OR

goo.gl/T4FY5D

RESCUE AN EX-BATTERY HEN4

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KIND FOODOne of the kindest things you cando for animals is not to eat them, or productsthat come from their exploitation. You don’t need

eggs to have a delicious scramble!

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Utensils:

• chopping boar d, shar p knif e, big f r y ing pan, bowl, measur ing spoons, wooden spoon or spatula to mix the scr amble.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion• 4 mushr ooms

• r ed capsicum

• 450g of f ir m tof u

• 2 T bsp. nutr itional y east• tsp. basil

• tsp. or egano

• 1 tsp. par sley

• tsp. tur mer ic

• tsp. black pepper

• tsp. salt

• 1 T bsp. v egetable oil

Instructions:

• Car ef ully chop up the onions, slice the mushr ooms and dice the capsicum.

• F r y the onions in the oil f or a f ew minutes bef or e adding the mushr ooms and capsicum.• Dr y the tof u with paper towels, r emov ing as much of the excess water as possible, bef or e r oughly mashing with a f or k ( leav ing some bigger chunks).

• Once the mushr ooms ar e sof t add the tof u, spices and nutr itional y east to the f r y ing pan.• Cook until the tof u begins to br own.• Ser v e on toast with some f r esh par sley .

c r a m bled to f u

IDEA!

Nu tri tional yeas t can

be used on pas ta as a

replacemen t for cheese.

I t has a delicious sa vour y fla vour

and

is a good source of B

vi tamins, including B12.


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SAFE KIDS FOR ANIMALS

This is where you can have your action for animals recognised.

LUCIAN (7)

AUCKLAND

Lucian has been usinghis Animals ActivistHandbook and writingdown lots of ways hecan help out animals.Good job, Lucian!

HOLLY (11)

WELLINGTON

Holly has done a 30kmwalk along Wellington’ssouth coast to raisemoney for SAFE toend factory farming.Fantastic, thanks abunch, Holly!– See Holly’s profile onpage 6.

MIA (8)

AUCKLAND

Mia recently joinedSAFE Youth andhas drawn a pictureabout no more factoryfarming. What a greatpicture of a pig and afantastic message too.Great work, Mia.

MAJA (11)

AUCKLAND

Maja has been busyhelping out chickenslately. She set up adisplay about factoryfarming at AmburyRegional Park recently.She had a coop withtwo ex-battery hensfor her display thatwere later taken toa happy and lovinghome. Amazing, Maja!

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START here

aeHELP THIS BATTERY

HEN ESCAPE HER CAGE

AND FIND FREEDOM!


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SAFE YOUTH PROFILEName: Holly O'Connor

Age: 11

Hometown: Wellington

Favourite animal: Cat/Dog (I prefer playing with dogs,but would rather be learning about/drawing cats)

What got you interested in wanting to help animals?

I have been vegan all my life, so I’ve grown up with vegphilosophies. I also have four cats (Ash, Kit, Comet,and Gingersnap) and my love for them transforms intoa passion to help all animals in trouble.

What is yourfavourite veg food?

Vegan pizza, withvegan cheese!

My favourite foodto make, though, isveg cupcakes withlots and lots of decoration!

Anything you want to share about animals?

Yes: I think that one of the greatest things about beingvegan is that I can love animals without “Pet this oneand eat this one”. All animals deserve love and respect,whether they are farm animals (for want of a betterword) or pets.

Holly and comet.

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Joining SAFE YOUTHis free!We will send you threenewsletters per year and keepyou up to date with any SAFEYouth events.

SEND YOUR ENTRYFORM TO:

Nichola Kriek –

Education OfficerSAFEPO Box 13366Christchurch 8024Ph: 03 379 9711Fax: 03 374 9290Email: [email protected]

Name:

I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN SAFE YOUTH.

Street address:

Email:

Phone number:

Date of birth:

Suburb: City:

HOW TO Join SAFE Youth

If you would like to join SAFE YOUTH fill out

the form below and send it to SAFE EducationOfficer Nichola Kriek.

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SAFE Youth Newsletter #6