Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 63
1 another chick that will become their parents. That is how
2 they hatch. They hatch in hatchery. They will hatch
3 together, they are all together. When you do that they
4 think that is their natural environment. They have grown
5 accustomed to that environment. Those birds who have grown
6 in that environment will not be significantly under
7 stress. On the other hand, a free range chicken when it is
8 out is subject to the environment, is subject to distress
9 because they could go hungry, they could not find their
10 friends or their relatives or what they associate as part
11 of their family; they are subject to predators; they are
12 more susceptible to diseases because any bird can carry,
13 and we talked about salmonella, any bird is a carrier. Any
14 animal is a carrier of potentially dangerous bacteria, so
15 when they re out in the open under uncontrolled conditions
16 they will suffer physiologically and they will be more
17 susceptible to diseases.
18
19 In terms of, we do not need sunshine as well, people would
20 like to believe. We need light, especially for chickens,
21 laying egg chickens. Their biological system is tied up to
22 the amount of daylight they receive. When they are outside
23 their biological system is affected by the sunshine. If it
24 is dark, if it is bright, they will be affected. When they
25 are in a controlled condition, that is controlled, they do
26 not go through those changes. Their reproductive cycle is
27 triggered by the amount of light. You can go on and on and
28 make assumptions, but I have not see chickens that are free
29 range that are healthier, that produce more eggs or that
30 they are heavier, I have no evidence, I have never seen
31 evidence to support that fact.
32
33 Q. Thank you for that answer, Dr. Gomez Gonzales. Two other
34 things. The chicken which is kept inside a cage has no
35 opportunity to fly?
36 A. That is correct.
37
38 Q. Do you know to what extent a chicken which is kept outside
39 or is free to go outside will fly and what the reasons are
40 why it will fly?
41 A. You can go back through the evolutionary change and how
42 the birds evolve, and I think it would be a fair assumption
43 to say that through the evolution change that birds are not
44 designed to fly. They fly a very short distance with the
45 objective of, mostly, to get into a tree; mostly to run
46 away from something, something that will scare them. If
47 you do not disturb a chicken it will not fly. There is no
48 sense for that bird to fly. The only reason they fly would
49 be to climb a tree. They will climb a tree to protect
50 themselves from predators. They will be under stress
51 throughout the night because they are thinking "I had
52 better not move because I might fall or because there might
53 be a predator." When they are in a cage they have that
54 security, they are safe, they know they are safe because
55 they are in their home.
56
57 Q. One other thing, to what extent is pecking or cannibalism a
58 problem amongst chickens that are kept closely together in
59 cages?
60 A. That will depend on the environment. There is a
