Nature and industryAt the age of seven weeks, the age at which
chickens ("broilers") are slaughtered for meat, their cousins in
nature are far from independent. They are still chicks learning
to make their way in the world and how to find food under the
protection of their mother. Their relationships with their
mothers start when they are embryos inside eggs, and continue
with the hens' attentive nurturing for the first few weeks of
the chicks' lives. In the poultry industry the chicks are
deprived of their mothers' protection and guidance and any
opportunities to satisfy their curiosity. They hatch inside
incubators, confined in a crowded and boring environment, and
are treated like nothing more than biological machines. More
than 150 million fowls of this kind are killed in Israel every
year-over 10 million of are turkeys, and most of the rest are
"broiler" chickens. In addition, many chicks are killed as
"surplus" animals even before reaching the fattening facilities-
the yearly number of incubated eggs is