Day 093 - 28 Feb 95 - Page 19
1
2 Q. So they are not always standing one in front of the other?
3 A. They can move, yes.
4
5 Q. How long have you stood looking at particular battery
6 cages?
7 A. I told you that yesterday, that even the first time
8 when I did, when I started doing research in 1979, would
9 spend entire days and weeks working inside, actually
10 inside, a laying house. I spent plenty of time.
11
12 Q. Did you ever see hens particularly pacing up and down
13 before just before they were wanting to lay an egg?
14 A. It is pacing -- they get anxious but "pacing", they do
15 not pace up and down.
16
17 Q. They get anxious then?
18 A. I cannot agree with you, how you phrased the question.
19
20 Q. Do they try to escape from the cage prior to laying an egg?
21 A. That, I cannot tell you.
22
23 Q. You do not know?
24 A. Probably not, but I do not know for sure.
25
26 Q. Have you ever left the cages open in the battery cages
27 where you have been working for a day or so?
28 A. Yes, we used to have, and I can show, I did that in
29 December, brought back some memories, I went to my sister's
30 ranch. He had some chickens, they have some chickens in a
31 farm. I remember when we used to have a ranch, my grandpa
32 used to let the chickens out because his theory was that by
33 the chickens going out to peck food, they would eat the
34 ticks so the cattle would not suffer from the ticks.
35 I remember seeing the chickens every time they would let
36 the chickens open in the day, and by night they came back
37 into the cage by themselves. I saw exactly the same
38 behaviour last December. I was showing it to my kids:
39 "Just watch, they are going to come back at night" and
40 that is exactly what they did.
41
42 Q. But they left by themselves during the day?
43 A. Yes.
44
45 Q. What cages were they that you were talking about?
46 A. Similar cages.
47
48 Q. A normal battery cage?
49 A. Yes.
50
51 Q. Are you talking about a chicken house?
52 A. It was a small chicken house. It was a small ranch.
53 It is a small chicken house, probably one-third of the size
54 of this courtroom.
55
56 Q. Were they in individual cages?
57 A. No.
58
59 Q. No?
60 A. It was pretty much the same practice.
