Study: Chickens think about future

[flvegan]

July 14, 2005 — Chickens do not just live in the present, but can anticipate the future and demonstrate self-control, something previously attributed only to humans and other primates, according to a recent study.

The finding suggests that domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, are intelligent creatures that might worry.

"An animal with no awareness of 'later' may not be able to predict the end of an unpleasant experience, such as pain, rendering it (the pain) all-encompassing," said Siobhan Abeyesinghe, lead author of the study.

"On the other hand, an animal that can anticipate an event might benefit from cues to aid prediction, but may also be capable of expectations rendering it vulnerable to thwarting, frustration and pre-emptive anxiety."

more:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050711/chicken.html

Further evidence suggesting that eating them is wrong.

[flamingyouth]

1. That's a fascinating article - thanks for posting

However, I love the concluding sentence: Aside from animal rights issues, other research has indicated that if a bird or animal feels stress before killing, that anxiety may adversely affect the quality, taste and texture of meats. :eyes:

[smbolisnch]

2. That is so interesting!

I always thought chickens were very smart, and affectionate too :)
I agree with flaming youth though, that last sentence is so typical :(

[shockra]

3. Chicken futures.

That would have been nice to post in a thread a couple weeks ago.

Iraqis are not as dumb as chickens.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3987130

Apparently a lot of people thought the OP was brilliant. I didn't get why it's necessary to put down animals to give people a compliment. If you can call it that. If someone posted "Women aren't as stupid as cows," or "Women aren't as slutty as rabbits," I wouldn't feel complimented.

Then there's the whole thing that animals allow us to slaughter them by the billions because they're stupid. :shrug:

When you read accounts of slaughterhouses, animals are plenty aware that they're going to their deaths, and they're terrified. I guess it's their fault they're not carnivores who would fight back. Which would make carnivores "smarter," I guess.

[shockra]

4. Mickey Z has the Discovery article on his website.

Along with this, which is heartbreaking:

Perhaps the finest illustration of what factory farming does to chickens has been presented by artist/writer Sue Coe. After her visit to a hatchery with Lorri Bauston from Farm Sanctuary, the activist organization focused on rescuing farm animals, Coe wrote about what they found:

“Around the back is a large dumpster. Lorri and I climb up to look inside. She is looking for live baby chicks. The male baby chicks are discarded as soon as they are hatched. They have no use, no value, since they cannot lay eggs. And it would cost too much to euthanize them. So they are tossed into the dumpster alive. But it is too late for us to rescue any chicks—the sun is just too hot. On the top layer of corpses, flies are eating the chicks’ eyes. Lorri keeps digging under the corpses. There are layers upon layers, some chicks still half in the shells, having broken through with their beaks. I examine a chick, so perfect with its soft yellow down and tiny wings. The chicks are thrown in with other garbage: empty Coke cans, cigarette packs, computer printouts, samples of our throwaway society. Gene Bauston, cofounder of Farm Sanctuary, told me that sometimes the baby chicks are ground up alive and thrown on the fields as fertilizer. Walking along a plowed field, you can sometimes find a chick, still alive, with no legs or wings.”

http://www.mickeyz.net/news/mickeyz/

People really, really suck. I'll have to remember this next time there's a chicken thread. :(

[flamingyouth]

5. OMFG

:cry:

[flvegan]

6. I took part in an open rescue at a battery farm.

In Trilby, Florida. James Biggers, bastard, stopped feeding them (you can Google the details). I personally pulled a living, breathing, half-dead hen from the bucket of a bulldozer FULL of dead birds. I personally pulled drowning hens from manure streams. I personally wept over the dead and the living that died in spite of our efforts. I personally watched as hired workers created a mass grave via backhoe for these forgotten birds, dead or alive.

Farm Sanctuary and HSUS filed suit, but it failed. The Pasco County DA is/was a real piece of $hit and did nothing. They're just chickens, and these people just. don't. care.

Everything you see/hear, both pictures and testimony, from the AR groups of the world are largely true. I think that taking part in an investigation such as this would be enough to push me futher than I'd like to be pushed.

Thanks for posting this.

[shockra]

7. Wow.

I don't know how you deal with all the sadistic and juvenile comments about eating animals around here after experiencing something like that. I thought it was tough for me!

After the last barrage of "food" threads I put over 50 posters on ignore because I just couldn't stand the sight of them. But I didn't want to have to stop posting because of them. I took them all back off again, but I remember who they were, of course.

I did google some articles on that. I don't understand how anyone could just let 20,000 birds starve (and still be called a "decent person"?). What an ugly situation.

And I suspect the passage on Mickey Z's site a lot of people would accuse of being made up. Because that's what people do when something is just to awful to believe.

[flvegan]

9. Here's the Farm Sanctuary brief

There are photos attached as an exhibit (cage shots only):
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/campaign/c_cypress.htm

[shockra]

10. UGH.

That's outrageous. What does it take to get the law to come down on these people???

Bless you for helping. :hug:

[smbolisnch]

8. OMG!

That is terrible :cry: What is wrong with people?? Thank god there are people like you out there....

[flvegan]

11. What was really cool about it

was that there were several of us, from a couple organizations, working together. It wasn't about getting coverage or taking credit. It was all about those chickens.

But, hey, we were just acting as a bunch of law-breaking terrorists that evening.

BTW, Simple Green will remove chicken crap from anything.

[smbolisnch]

12. Awww, that's so great...

I am in awe of the work you do! :pals:
And simple green is good, but it stinks!

[shockra]

13. I like chickens.

I had a Banty hen and rooster when I was a kid, and my grandparents always had chickens on their farm which would follow you around.

My mom's parents also raised chickens. She said that my grandmother was the one who had to kill them, but she never was able to eat them afterward. It took her a while to notice that her mom never ate chicken. She just never wanted to discuss it.

Eggs are kind of gross, really. I remember as a small child not wanting to eat them, and my dad went through some elaborate song and dance trying to convince me that chickens wanted me to eat their eggs. He would bawk like a chicken and flap his arms and say "I want you to eat my egg, Linda!" "That's a goooood egg!" I finally gave in, mostly out of embarrassment for him. Boy, dad was a goofball. :)

[peacebuzzard]

14. I have two banty chickens for pets....

I had three, but one, unfortunately died this past winter (she was really smart).
But the couple I have now are very domestic. They worry about each other's well being and do not like to be separated. They recognize me and trust me and even call out to me happily by crowing or clucking when I come home, after my multiple days/weeks away from home.
They feel the joys of comfort, like extra hay for bedding, or a special treat to eat. They fear strange dogs and are curious about my activities by staring at my actions when I work in the yard. They are familiar with my dogs and can distinguish them from other dogs.

There was actually a poster here a couple of years ago w/ input from a site called city chicken, I think http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/thecitychicken/
there, I just googled it....it has been jazzed up since last time she posted here. Interesting reading.

[shockra]

15. I HATE CARL'S JUNIOR!!!

They've always had these obnoxious sexist commercials, but I saw a new one last night that made me even more pissed.

They showed a live chicken as they said "The only thing a chicken is good for...is EATING (plopping a chicken patty on a bun). :mad:

[smbolisnch]

16. I haven't seen that.

I guess Paris Hilton grinding on a meat pie wasn't working anymore. :eyes: