report by Animal Liberation Victoria:

"Investigation into Broiler Parent Birds - The Forgotten Victims

Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV) rescued 6 broiler breeding hens on Friday September 7, 2007

Most of us probably haven't heard anything about the parents of the billions of chickens killed for meat. ALV's openrescue team decided to investigate. What we found was a hidden layer in the tragic and very ugly story of chicken farming. Thousands of hens and roosters crammed together for over a year in each dim, foul smelling shed to produce eggs to be artificially hatched to fill the world's factory farm sheds, organic and free-range farms with billions of chicks for chickenmeat production. [there are futher hidden sheds with the grandparent and great-grandparent 'stock']

A team of four activists saved the lives of six of these hens and documented the appalling conditions including severely exhausted and debilitated hens, many with red raw backs from constant mating, blisters on their claws from standing in their own accumulated droppings and erythema on their bellies from laying on the filthy floors. Young male roosters had recently been put into the sheds to further increase the productivity of the already totally exhausted hens. The birds are only fed every other day."

For more information and slideshow, go to: www.govegan.com.au/misc/broilerparents