Meat chickens are not caged, but are raised in large sheds where they are free to roam about the floor, and have free access to feed and water.  Some sheds, for free-range chickens, have an outdoor space as well.  The Animal Welfare (Broiler Chicken: Fully Housed) Code of Welfare 2003 specifically legislates animal welfare requirements for broiler chickens, covering such issues as food and water, housing, lighting, ventilation, temperature, litter management, and many other factors.

One of the myths out there is that chicken meat comes from egg-laying hens (or layer hens, as seen above) when they come to the end of their laying cycle.  However, this is very rarely true.

Chickens used for meat production and those used for egg production are very separate breeds, and thus one is very rarely used for the other’s purpose.  However, some egg-laying chicken meat is further processed into products like pies.  Meat from egg-laying chickens constitutes only about 0.75% of the total market in New Zealand, so 99.25% of the time, you will be eating chicken meat from a chicken specifically bred for it..  (For more information on egg-laying birds, see http://www.eggfarmers.org.nz/epfnz/breeding.asp)

The use of hormones (including steroids) was banned decades ago in New Zealand.  This ban is strictly enforced.  In fact, the poultry industry is the only meat industry in New Zealand that regularly checks for the presence of hormone residues in its meat!  Advertising on chicken packaging that claims 'no added hormones' is not differentiating its product, but instead, is stating an industry-wide regulation.

Nor are chickens fed any unnatural growth promotants.  Most of the improvements in how fast birds grow is thanks to specialist breeders overseas, who have selectively bred birds to grow more quickly and efficiently.  Intensive research into the chicken's precise nutritional requirements, better animal husbandry, better housing and improvements in healthcare have also contributed to improving bird growth and to reducing the time it takes to get chickens to market size.

For more information, see our pages on antibiotics and growth hormones.  You can also read Rick Kleyn of Spesfeed's easily-digested article entitled Why We Don't Use Hormones In Poultry Feed.