EDIT: for some context on the problems this creates

The science is clear that fast-growing chickens like the Ross 308 are doomed by their genetics. These have been engineered to grow so incredibly fast, and their bodies just cannot handle it.”

Jackson said secret filming at broiler farms supplying big supermarkets has shown birds struggling to walk or collapsing under their own weight, or dying from heart failure, and dead birds were filmed lying among the flocks.

[…]

Andrew Knight, a professor of animal welfare and ethics at the University of Winchester, said: “With these really rapid growth rates, it can be difficult for the heart and circulatory system to keep up with the expanding body mass. A proportion of these animals suffer from heart failure. It’s also difficult for the bones, ligaments and tendons to keep up with the rapidly increasing body mass, meaning that a proportion of these birds become severely lame [inability to walk properly].”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/16/cheaper-than-chips-frankenchicken-at-the-centre-of-fight-for-animal-welfare

And that quote only lists just some of the health problems they face. There’s a ton of other problems too

  • tiredofsametab@kbin.run
    112·
    5 months ago

    Are these the same breed of chicken? For example, Cornish Cross or American Breast or something? If not, it does feel kinda weird comparing them. If they are all the same base breed, that’s some totally crazy selection going on there.

    For clarity/example, comparing a Cornish Cross from 1970 against one from 2000 is different than comparing a Cornish Cross from 1970 against an American Breast in 2000. I just wanted to clarify what was being compared.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
      112·
      5 months ago

      They have been artificially selected to grow faster. The breeds of chickens are not natural in the slightest. They are even patented so only one company can for instance sell the Ross 308. The changes in breeds that are most common are due to intensive selection. The breeds themselves will get classified differently as those selections happen, so comparing the same one wouldn’t make as much sense

      • tiredofsametab@kbin.run
        3·
        5 months ago

        That’s crazy. I don’t raise chickens right now, but I do follow a lot of farm/homestead content with people who do raise poultry for meat. I had considered raising my own egg-layers (just a couple) since I have plenty of space for them to run around and delicious bugs to eat. I have no idea what breeds we have here in Japan, though, for any use case.

        • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
          111·
          5 months ago

          The places one get chickens from are likely going to be the same or similar to the common commercial breeds.

          It’s also worth noting that domesticated breeds of egg-laying chickens haven’t been spared either :( They have been selected to lay so many eggs that it harms their bone health. It takes a lot of calcium to make eggs, so naturally they don’t lay them as much. In the wild, they would also often eat their own unfertilized eggs to recover the calcium too. I’ve read that a fair number of animal sanctuaries actually give them medications to lower their rate of egg laying and let them eat their own eggs to recover that calcium

          Hens will often lay around 300 eggs per year. That’s very different from the wild ancestor of modern chickens – the red junglefowl – which lays around a dozen per year. And much higher than in 1900, when commercial hens would lay around 80 eggs yearly

          https://ourworldindata.org/do-better-cages-or-cage-free-environments-really-improve-the-lives-of-hens