An international company has been promoting itself as producing happy eggs. The commercials offer pictures of hens living in idyllic conditions—free to roam in wide grass lands replete with sunshine and trees in which to shelter. Intrigued by these commercials, one of us wrote to the company concerned and inquired whether the millions of male chicks were similarly cared for. The response was that male chicks (surplus to requirements) were killed “using a pain free gas when they are 1 day old” (personal communication, 2016). When we inquired what happened to hens at the end of their apparent breeding life, we were informed that “when our girls no longer produce eggs we can sell to the supermarkets they are taken to our facility where they are exposed to a nonaversive gas to put them to sleep” (personal communication, 2016).
Leaving aside whether it is morally licit to raise hens for...
