Out of sight, out of mind

Our investigation into US chicken farming in the state of Georgia

Warning: some scenes may be distressing

Compassion in World Farming’s Investigation Unit has been on assignment in Georgia, USA to get the inside track on the USA’s biggest factory farming operation – the chicken industry.

Supporting Compassion’s new USA office and its work with the Georgians for Pastured Poultry (GPP) campaign, we were tasked with conducting a special investigation that examined the hotspots of intensive production in the state, the implications for animal welfare and the wider impacts intensive chicken farming is having on the environment and human health.

We found evidence that chickens are suffering in ‘super sized’ sheds that are bigger than American football fields. We met with workers whose sole job is to clear out the dead. We also spoke with experts concerned about the size and scale of this operation in Georgia, which makes it easily the biggest producer of chickens in the USA.

For the urban Georgian, it’s not obvious that Georgia is home to this massive industry, but hit the road to the north of the state, gaze at the rolling landscape and you might just glimpse the top of a shed or a feed bin, which more often than not will be the start of a mega farm, with countless sheds, housing as many as 300,000 chickens.

As we discovered during our journey, this is an industry that likes to be out of sight and out of mind.

Eyewitness

Click here to read an ‘in the field’ account from a Compassion investigator.

North Georgia is proud of its chicken farming but for chicken welfare it can be a different story.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind - a Georgian broiler chicken farm hidden away in the countryside.

Some of the farms are super-sized and each shed can contain as many as 30,000 broilers.

Chicks just a few days old will grow super fast over the coming weeks.

Soon chickens are competing for space and welfare problems become more noticeable.

Chickens put on weight fast through feed regimes that seek to get them to slaughter in around 7 weeks.

Many chickens display clear leg problems and can find walking very difficult because of their weight.

In the last couple of weeks before slaughter many workers will be spending a lot of their time collecting dead birds from the sheds.

In the last week of their short lives there's very little space left in the sheds. This is the half way point in the shed - behind me is the same amount again.

The next day. The catchers have been in over night and all that's left is the stench of litter and feathers.

After weeks in a factory farm, their suffering continues, crammed in the cages on the back of trucks heading to the processor.

The chickens are often stacked outside the processor in holding areas in the sweltering heat of a Georgian summer.

Chickens often fall off trucks from being poorly packed. This one stands helpless in the middle of the road before slumping on the tarmac - it's legs struggling to carry it's weight.

Some chickens that have fallen off trucks are finding new homes. Here a chicken called 'Tank' enjoys some greenery.

The chicken industry has also been causing concern for environmentalists. Here water quality is poor close to a processor.

Download the accompanying report Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Impacts of chicken meat factory farming in the State of Georgia, produced by CIWF USA for Georgians for Pastured Poultry (GPP).

Find out more about the campaign at www.georgiansforpasturedpoultry.org.

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Stopping factory farming for good will take persistence and determination for months and years to come. Compassion receives no government funding, and our work to end cruelty to farm animals is entirely dependent on the generosity of our supporters.