McDonald’s to laying hens: “You deserve a break next year.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2000:
OAK BROOK, Ill.––McDonald’s
Restaurants on August 22 ordered its 27 egg
suppliers to stop starving hens for five to 21
days at the end of their first laying cycle.
Starvation forces hens to molt, normally
within 10 to 14 days, and triggers a
second laying cycle among those who survive
the enforced famine.
After the second laying cycle, the
hens reach the state of skeletal mineral depletion
referred to in the industry as “spent,”
and are killed.
Forced molts, practiced by an estimated
90% of U.S. egg producers, are
increasingly associated with bacterial infections
among hens, which are sometimes
passed to humans. The tendency of egg producers
to try to prevent the infections with
prophylactic antibiotic dosage is believed to
have stimulated the recent rapid evolution of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including strains
of campylobacter and salmonella that sicken
thousands of humans per year.