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US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

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Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#51

Post by cbau »

belorn wrote: post #47

This technology has existed for quite a while now, I think well over 10 years. Talking to farmers, they are also well aware of it, but like tangential technology within dairy farming, the main reason they aren't using it is costs. Any added costs would have to be added to the price. Where I live, the highest standard (in term of animal welfare) eggs costs around 40 cent per egg. The lowest standard cost around 10 cen…

For anyone who hasn't been to the grocery store recently, a rotisserie chicken can be had for about $8. That was wild to me when I stopped to think about it for a second: a chicken born and raised to adulthood, slaughtered, and brought to my local market all for under $8.

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#52

Post by hollerith »

cbau wrote: post #51
belorn wrote: post #47

This technology has existed for quite a while now, I think well over 10 years. Talking to farmers, they are also well aware of it, but like tangential technology within dairy farming, the main reason they aren't using it is costs. Any added costs would have to be added to the price. Where I live, the highest standard (in term of animal welfare) eggs costs around 40 cent per egg. The lowest standard cost around 10 cen…

For anyone who hasn't been to the grocery store recently, a rotisserie chicken can be had for about $8. That was wild to me when I stopped to think about it for a second: a chicken born and raised to adulthood, slaughtered, and brought to my local market all for under $8.

Opens up the intriguing possibility of chickens' buying their own freedom

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#53

Post by WhyOhWhyQ »

probably_wrong wrote: post #30
WhyOhWhyQ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume from the headline with this new way a conscious creature doesn't experience immense pain.

You would be mistaken, though, because the article mentions that the current process is virtually painless due to how fast it is. There's also the debate on whether one-day-old chicks are conscious, but I don't know the literature enough to have a strong opinion.

My comment said that the new process is painless and you say I am mistaken because the current process is virtually painless.

Also, virtually painless doesn't sound like painless to me. It sounds like a nice thing to tell people to convince them grinding up conscious creatures has no negative aspect.

"There's also the debate on whether one-day-old chicks are conscious, but I don't know the literature enough to have a strong opinion."

Why comment if you admit you don't know what you're talking about? There's lots of debate over whether you are conscious. Does that meaning grinding you up is plausibly a nice thing to do?

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#54

Post by cbau »

akudha wrote: post #50
cbau wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone arguing against vegetarians in the past, I get the point, but I actually made the switch recently, not because of ethics, but simply because of cost and laziness. It's a silly story: I recently wrote a program to create my diet from the week based on local grocery store nutrition labels and prices for a couple hundred items, subject to constraints for calories, macronutrients (supporting my goals in the gy…

I remember reading somewhere that over 80% of the grains grown in the U.S is for animal consumption, not human. Those animals are then slaughtered for human consumption. I don't know how true that number is, but even if it is half that, it is still highly inefficient and wasteful. That article also calculated the amount of resources (water especially) to produce one pound of meat vs a pound of fruits/vegetables. None…

Right, makes sense. I guess going into fitness I expected meat would be important for getting protein and might be worth a premium, but it's both expensive and requires time to cook where most vegetarian products can be eaten without any prep. The only appliance I need is a rice cooker, which has had an extremely high ROI. The only animal product I can't seem to remove is eggs because of choline.

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#55

Post by sahila »

neom wrote: post #38
sahila wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When speaking of ethics, how do you measure the ethics of causing pain vs killing? I'd say even a 1% reduction in consumption (killing) is better than whatever pain reduction. I guess the point is you and others feel so strongly about ways to reduce suffering but couldn't care less about life.

Not sure that is fair. Many people accept that there are 2 sure things in life (maybe 3) - birth and death. In a way, birth and death are two of the most natural things we have, a family of birds is born, a fox makes it's way up the tree and eats them all. Many people be able to say "that's life, i just hope the didn't suffer!"

Fair enough, but I don't think that would be consistent when applied to people. Which is to say ethics likely isn't that important for most people - we often try our best to prevent death and may even increase someone's suffering to prolong their life.

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#56

Post by neom »

sahila wrote: post #55
neom wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure that is fair. Many people accept that there are 2 sure things in life (maybe 3) - birth and death. In a way, birth and death are two of the most natural things we have, a family of birds is born, a fox makes it's way up the tree and eats them all. Many people be able to say "that's life, i just hope the didn't suffer!"

Fair enough, but I don't think that would be consistent when applied to people. Which is to say ethics likely isn't that important for most people - we often try our best to prevent death and may even increase someone's suffering to prolong their life.

I'm from Canada where we have legal assisted death, something I would vote for over and over again, as I think most Canadians would. I don't eat much meat personally, but it's more a ecological environmental thing vs an animals thing. Things live, things die, that is life, oh well. :)

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#57

Post by theoreticalmal »

hollerith wrote: post #52
cbau wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone who hasn't been to the grocery store recently, a rotisserie chicken can be had for about $8. That was wild to me when I stopped to think about it for a second: a chicken born and raised to adulthood, slaughtered, and brought to my local market all for under $8.

Opens up the intriguing possibility of chickens' buying their own freedom

They literally work for chicken feed, but with enough time I guess it’d be possible!

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#58

Post by theoreticalmal »

emptiestplace wrote: post #35
doublerabbit wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vegetarian. I consume eggs however I ensure they are ethnically sourced from organic, free range and roam freely farms; like my local. As soon as it has a formed element of biological life to it, then no. I don't eat fish neither as it was alive. Honey, milk I'm fine with it's a byproduct if sourced ethically. Unless I know the source, I won't eat it. The problem isn't eating meat, the problem is the inhumanity cause…

None of this matters because it is not even remotely feasible for 8 billion people to ethically source animal products.

It matters to me and the ~2 other people I make food decisions for.

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#59

Post by maxerickson »

doublerabbit wrote: post #26
AznHisoka wrote: post #18

If they kill this much chicks, why are people who choose to be vegetarian for moral/religious reasons OK with eating eggs?

Vegetarian. I consume eggs however I ensure they are ethnically sourced from organic, free range and roam freely farms; like my local. As soon as it has a formed element of biological life to it, then no. I don't eat fish neither as it was alive. Honey, milk I'm fine with it's a byproduct if sourced ethically. Unless I know the source, I won't eat it. The problem isn't eating meat, the problem is the inhumanity cause…

I continue to be fascinated by the concept that milk and unfertilized eggs are vegetarian.

Milk comes from cows that had their calves slaughtered (maybe a little bit of it comes from cows that already weaned their calves?). Unfertilized eggs come from chickens that were bred for the explicit purpose of popping them out one after the other.

Re: US egg industry kills 350M chicks a year. New tech offers an alternative

#60

Post by jjeaff »

cbau wrote: post #51
belorn wrote: post #47

This technology has existed for quite a while now, I think well over 10 years. Talking to farmers, they are also well aware of it, but like tangential technology within dairy farming, the main reason they aren't using it is costs. Any added costs would have to be added to the price. Where I live, the highest standard (in term of animal welfare) eggs costs around 40 cent per egg. The lowest standard cost around 10 cen…

For anyone who hasn't been to the grocery store recently, a rotisserie chicken can be had for about $8. That was wild to me when I stopped to think about it for a second: a chicken born and raised to adulthood, slaughtered, and brought to my local market all for under $8.

Or still $4.99 at Costco, nationwide.
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