03-03-2004, 04:52 PM
Asalaamu alikum,
I am always surprised how many people are not familiar with the concept of factory farming although over 80% of all poultry supplied to the grocery stores comes from factory farms.
Factory farms and centered around greed. It's basically a giant building filled with rows and stacks of cages for the birds. The cage is where the animal will spend its entire life, never seeing sunshine or enjoying fresh air. There are feeding trays at the front of the cages for the animal to take it's food, which is feed through the row by machine.
The farmer is able to make even more money by keeping more than one bird in each cage. Most often there are 3-4 birds to a cage, and sometimes up to 6. Because the birds are cramped together in this way and no place to go, they will fight with each other. So the solution they made for this is(I am not making this up) they cut off the beaks of the birds so they cannot peck each other, and they cut off the toes so they are unable to scratch. This is done with a hot blade.
Because of the unhealthy lives these brids are forced to live, they are fed antibiotics along with their food, however this can also lead to slow growth, and most chickens meant for consumption are also fed large amounts of growth hormones. There have been cases where the bird has become so plump from these drugs, and their weak legs (unable to excersize) have broken under the weight.
So please, if you ever want to consider buying Tyson chicken or going to KFC and saying Bismillah to 'make it halal' think of what you are really putting into your mouth.
If we are going to eat them, they at least deserve to be treated humanely while they are alive.
Alhumdulilah, there are many healthy food choices we can make that there is no dire need for doubtful meat.
May Allah forgive us,
Jennifer