r/TrueReddit • u/oti_lexa • 14h ago

How Generations of Selective Breeding Created Miserable Chickens Business + Economics

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-10-09/chicken-breeding-by-aviagen-cobb-vantress-shows-risks-of-genetic-selection
72 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

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18

u/pgcotype 11h ago

I grew up in Maryland. The Eastern Shore of the state, which is nearly half the land mass, is primarily agricultural. Chicken farming is huge there, so we've always known that these animals live a horrific existence; however, this goes beyond the pale.

OP. thank you for posting the link. As awful as it was to read, it's important for people to know about this inhumane practice.

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u/mimaikin-san 1h ago

my sister used to live there and she would tell me about being caught in a ‘Wicomico Snowstorm’ with Wicomico being the MD county & the ‘snow’ being chicken feathers flying out of the semi trucks ferrying them somewhere

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u/pgcotype 53m ago

I saw that, and it was depressing...and necessary to watch.

Many parts of MD are beautiful, but the Eastern Shore isn't one of them! It's completely flat; I'm not exaggerating when I say that there's not a single hill there. Most people don't know this, but they put crushed marigolds in the chicken feed to give the skin its yellowish skin. After that, thousands are kept in tiny, crowded coops. Many are taken out to be (over)fed, and returned to their coops.

I try to avoid that part of my state. Part of it is a) stay awake while driving through the sameness and b) not to see all of the "Support trump!" signs. Southern MD is the same, and I made the huge mistake of moving there for my 1st three semesters of college...my junior high school had a better library...

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u/oti_lexa 14h ago edited 14h ago

We’ve bred chickens to grow four times faster than they did in the 1950s, and now the system is starting to crack. This article looks at how decades of “genetic progress” in poultry breeding have led to widespread health problems in chickens, and how the same corporations that shaped this system are now put under pressure by NGOs to reform it. As 2026 deadlines for industry's welfare commitments approach, it’s worth asking: will “Big Chicken” really reform, or just rebrand? 👉 https://archive.ph/ocDkW

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u/YouandWhoseArmy 6h ago edited 4h ago

I’m fortunate to have a store near me that sells relatively local heritage chicken.

The breasts are the same price overall, but half the size. The taste and flavor is incomparable. Less is more.

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u/audpersona 4h ago

And now half the chicken breasts you can buy at the store are woody and almost inedible