Strong bonds
Chickens form strong bonds with one another. They recognise each other, seek out familiar companions and prefer living in a social group.
About animal species
Chickens are social, caring and deeply sentient.
Chickens form strong social bonds, communicate through sounds and body language, and want to care for their chicks. They are not products, but animals with needs, relationships and lives of their own.
About chickens.
Communication
Chickens communicate through sounds and body language. Through different calls, postures and movements, they let each other know what they feel or need.
Caring for chicks
Chickens want to care for their chicks. A mother hen provides warmth, protection and guidance — exactly what young chicks need.
The stark contrast.
What they need
Chickens want to forage, rest, dust-bathe, communicate, form strong bonds and protect their chicks. They need space to express natural behaviour and live a life that reflects who they are.
In the animal industry
Born in an incubator, selected for production value, kept in overcrowded sheds with few opportunities for natural behaviour, and ultimately sent to the slaughterhouse. For many chickens, life is short, harsh and entirely shaped by the system they are born into.
Natural lifespan
10 years
Laying hens
1.5 years
Chickens raised for meat
6 weeks
Male chicks from laying hens
1 day
Images from the animal industry
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Born in an incubator
Many chicks are born in an industrial environment without any contact with a mother hen.
Grown too fast
Some chickens are bred to grow so quickly that their legs and organs struggle to keep up.
Male chicks ground up
Male chicks in the egg industry are often killed because they cannot lay eggs.
Overcrowded sheds
Many chickens live packed closely together, with little room to rest, move around or get away from one another.
Restricted behaviour
Foraging, resting, dust-bathing and moving freely are often restricted by the system.
Production value
When a laying hen produces fewer eggs, the system quickly regards her as having less economic value.
Chickens raised for meat after several weeks
Chickens raised for meat are often sent to the slaughterhouse after only about six weeks.
An early end
For billions of chickens, life ends at the slaughterhouse long before they would naturally grow old.
This has to stop.
The number of chickens we kill each year is almost impossible to comprehend. Yet every one of them is an individual, with their own personality, emotions, unique experience of the world and desire to live.
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An estimate of the number of chickens killed worldwide since you opened this page. This estimate is based on figures of approximately 75.8 billion chickens killed each year
(Our World in Data).
Protect chickens.
Chickens are social, communicative, caring and sentient animals. Once we see them for who they really are, it becomes difficult to reduce their lives to eggs, meat or a number in a system. Let’s leave these beautiful animals in peace by choosing plant-based.
Choose plant-basedPhoto credits
- “Born in an incubator” — Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media.
- “Grown too fast” — Stefano Belacchi / Essere Animali / We Animals Media.
- “Male chicks ground up” — Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media.
- “Overcrowded sheds” — Stefano Belacchi / Essere Animali / We Animals Media.
- “Restricted behaviour” — Lucas Vincour / Zvirata Nejime / We Animals Media.
- “Production value” — Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality / We Animals Media.
- “Chickens raised for meat after several weeks” and “A life in the animal industry” — Andrew Skowron / We Animals Media.
- “An early end” — Seb Alex / We Animals Media.