Hickman’s Family Farms loses 95% of Arizona chickens to bird flu
https://www.azfamily.com/2025/05/30/hickmans-family-farms-loses-95-arizona-chickens-bird-flu/Open linkView original on lemmy.world389
Comments67https://www.azfamily.com/2025/05/30/hickmans-family-farms-loses-95-arizona-chickens-bird-flu/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
Uh huh, uh huh, tell us who you voted for there pal? Also, how much do you pay your prison inmate ‘employees’?
That part was one of the biggest revelations to me. I had no idea Arizona had a for-profit jail system that is essentially pseudo-slavery.
It's not pseudo-slavery, it's actual 100% legal slavery according to the words of the 13th Amendment of the US constitution.
I don't think there's a state that doesn't.
Arkansas, California, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin do not use for profit prisons.
Yes but they still use what is effectively slave labor in those states as well, to make all kinds of stuff. Its only better in that they arent locked up for profit
Guess how many of those prison services are contracted out to private companies though.
Not all states use private prisons, and I don't think all state prisons participate in forced labor (although they may all have 'optional' programs)
The optional ones probably vary from truly optional, to we say it's optional but you'll be reprimanded somehow if you don't.
Edit: this random post says 3/4 are forced via threat
https://freedomnetworkusa.org/2023/08/11/forced-labor-in-prisons/
it's slavery. no need to soften it
Headline News: Tobacco Business On Ropes as Planation Owner Lays Off Slaves
Reads headline
Oh no.
Reads article
Oh no, anyway.
Those slaves are going to lose their jobs!
Hmm. Inmates, you say? Maybe I think it's fine that you go out of business.
Also:
How healthy can that be, for birds, handlers, or consumers, in the best of times?
We know that capitalism is self-correcting so don't worry, it'll shake itself out
Who knew that mass epidemic deaths was the invisible hand of this market
I feel so sad for all those chickens.
If you really want to gag, look up ventilation shutdown. It's a method used to mass-kill chickens, e.g. in the event of a disease outbreak. It has also been used on pigs.
The entire animal-ag industry deserves to fail.
that's the nice treatment, usually they just shred baby chicks alive or give them the electric chair treatment before slicing their neck open
I knew this. It's horrible. :(
If it makes you feel any better, they probably had miserable lives to start with...
It's ALMOST like factory farming isn't a profitable or a sane practice. /s
Unsurprising that he uses slave labor, too.
I really wish all able countries would move away from meat. The cruelty we inflict on these poor animals is absolutely insane.
People are weirdly, emotionally, invested in meat. Like it's part of their identity.
I enjoy the taste of meat but I recognize it's not good for the environment or the animals. So I avoid eating meat. It's not a big deal. But for some people they act like you're going to eat them and bury their bones in an unmarked grave.
Hopefully, with the advances that have been coming along in lab grown, we will.
It'll be a hard fight against the lobbys though.
Yeah you're right about that. Farms like the one in the article have far too much influence.
Until we subsidize meat replacement options and get the price AT LEAST equal to regular meat, it just won't happen.
Don't know in the US, but in Canada I buy meat on sale when it hits the same price as tofu so I don't get what you mean...
Meat replacement to me is like Beyond or Impossible. Those are the most meat like, taste like vs tofu or soy or black bean etc.. Those are the options that if they were priced the same or less, at least I would buy without a 2nd guess, and Id addume more people wiuld too. I have yet to find a tofu or soy or whatever alt style that really makes me 2nd guess if I'm eating meat or not.
Depends what you're using it for, "ground" your tofu by hand and use it instead of ground beef in a bolognese and honestly you won't miss the beef
Seitan or TVP are probably better as a ground beef substitute and also fairly cheap... but that only really works for heavily seasoned applications like tacos or bolognese.
Humans don't need meat or meat substitutes though.
Look, we can debate meat vs vegan till we all go blue in the face. If you want humans to get off using real meat, we need an alternative that tastes like meat and costs the same/less. It's as simple as that.
100% agreed. Ethics won't win this war. It's all about cost and convenience. Most people are looking at their personal bottom line.
Yes, some of us do. Not everyone’s body is made to thrive on a vegan diet. Many of us are medically unable to not eat meat.
Interesting. What sort of medical conditions require eating meat?
I have IBS, GERD, anemia, & food allergies. I’ve seen medical professionals over the years and their recommendation is to eat anything & everything I can that won’t make me sick. I pretty much eat the same thing nearly everyday & most vegan protein sources make me sick.
That sucks and is a pretty common "gotcha" to justify the continued mistreatment and murder of animals. Lucky for you you were born the right kind of animal whose comfort and life in general somehow out weighs your dinner's.
You think they are using their medical condition to “gotcha” you?
That’s just sad dude.
Probably ones that need protein
From a nutrients stand point you can get all that from non meat sources.
What has protein in it, other than nuts and beans?
This makes an excellent argument for pursuing lab-grown meat. I do just fine on plant-based meat alternatives and traditional plant-based proteins (e.g. beans). But some people have allergies or other conditions that make this more difficult.
I’m all for lab grown meat as well and hope it’s affordable & safe within my lifetime.
I’ll take the meat if they can get rid of the slavery…
At least the remaining 5% can enjoy some extra room to move until they can pack it solid again…
What they don't tell you is that it is ridiculously cheap and easy for chicken farmers to replace lost chickens.
The chicken/egg shortage from the bird flu was resolved in under 2 weeks, but they used that opportunity to keep prices high.
They also don't tell you that this kind of farming where all the birds are crammed together is a great way to increase the chances of it mutating into a human pandemic. And the Trump administration is busily cutting everything that could protect the human population should that happen. No vaccine research, no vaccines, no monitoring.
You know fully well that vaccines make frogs gay. It's a protective measure not to use them!
It's cheap and easy but how could they do it in 2 weeks? They take about 6 months to reach maturity and start laying.
I believe we could have got more eggs from elsewhere and that the corporations were being greedy but I you can't accelerate the growth to a laying age.
They don't wait for birds to die to raise their replacements. Think of it like a flowing conveyor. The culled birds were going to be replaced eventually anyway, and ramping up production probably means paying more to get birds, and they will produce fewer eggs for a short while.
Does this make any sense to you? How someone can lose 95% of there laying and you think they have it replaced in 2 weeks? Let's say you have 10,000 chickens. You believe you have 9,500 hens ready in 2 weeks? That's crazy. That would be aiming for a huge expansion of layers before the bird flu happened. Chickens lay from 6 months to around 6 years (maybe more). I have 14 chickens out back. Well when I can keep them there, they free roam so they may be out front in a neighbors yard. But I give all the neighbors free eggs and they love them. (Both neighbors have said they wanted them out without questioning them, one likes to feed them and got yelled at by his wife to do it on my property so they don't shit on their cars, and the other wants them wandering her yard because she may be lonely? Idk but she asks for them and says they make her happy
Chickens don't spawn babies that spawn eggs without time. If I had 10 chickens and I lost 9, it would take me 9 months to get back to laying standards
Now that’s a tiny violin!
Shame they aren't ostriches, because then you'd have billionaires volunteering to adopt the infected birds.
Why post fake news? Biden did this and to be true, you voted for this, so you should not complain or post fake news to show how bad Trump is! Gwon on mate, don't post fake news!!!! /S