And the plan was to mainly just document the conditions that the hens were living in.
And upon arriving, all the cages were empty.
However, below the cages, there was probably around 50 live hens in the manure pit
along with many other dead hens that had already drowned or suffocated.
They were probably about 70 weeks old, maybe a year and a half old.
So they were spent.
Their bodies were worn out sufficiently that they were
no long profitable for egg production.
I’ve never been in an egg farm where I haven’t seen things like that.
It’d be unusual not to find something like that.
She had a broken leg.
Almost half of them had broken legs, and Miley was one of those.
After bringing them home from the vet, I set up a fenced grassy area here.
And it was really incredible to see these birds step on grass,
see natural sunlight for the very first time in their lives.
And immediately, they start exhibiting natural behaviors that they would
have never seen another chicken exhibit.
Like, the sun breaks through the clouds and then you see them fanning their wing out
to soak up the maximum amount of sun as possible.
Walking in the grass, looking in the grass curiously for any bits
of food or bugs that they might find.
Gradually, their feathers came back a lot faster than I thought.
I thought it would probably be a year before
they looked like healthy chickens again.
It’s amazing how resilient they are.
It really didn’t take anything special.
Just food, water, and space.
Just the things that every living being should have.
And they do the rest themselves.
She’s curious, just so inquisitive.
They love being around you.
Miley will follow you around the garden because, well, (a) they want to hang out
with you, but they’re just curious, they want to see what you’re doing.
They love exploring.
Chickens have those same social desires and feelings that
humans have, but they don’t express them in the exact same way.
Like, they don’t have facial reactions.
The noises they make are different.
But—I’ll give you an example: I was in Los Angeles last weekend,
and I came home, and the chickens hear my voice and they come running.
And they don’t smile like a human or even a dog does, but they come running
because they like you, they want to be around you, and they haven’t seen you
in a while.
Just like a dog would react.
Every vegan I know —and this is true for myself—
I wish I’d gone vegan earlier.
If you’re just an average consumer of animal products
and you decide to be vegan, that’s literally thousands of individuals
that are spared the nightmare of the slaughterhouse
just from one individual’s choice.
So, yeah, go for it.
It’s the best decision you could make in your life.