HOW MANY ANIMALS ARE KEPT TOGETHER, ON A TYPICAL FACTORY FARM?
39) A typical modern turkey unit/shed will contain up to 25,000 birds. A large farm may have several units of this size on one site. 40) Broiler (meat type) chickens may number 50,000 in each ‘flock’. As with turkeys, farms hold several sheds, so one ‘farm’ may have half a million chickens on its premises. 41) A modern battery shed could house 50,000 birds, caged in groups of four or five birds per cage. Again, most battery egg farms hold several units. 42) Hundreds of pigs may be housed together, and dairy farmers keep their cattle indoors throughout the winter, often in conditions which ‘invite’ disease. 43a) Present MAFF stocking densities for turkeys and broiler chickens are as follows: 43b) TURKEYS (in broiler-type housing, which accounts for around 85% of all UK turkey production) 260 cm square per kg (equating to a maximum stocking density of 38.5 kg/metre squared). In visual terms, turkeys nearing slaughter weight live ‘shoulder to shoulder’ in intensive farms. Turkeys are mark
