One clarification: Norwood’s view, as indicated in the table above, is that broiler chickens (raised for meat) have a welfare score of +3 which means they have lives worth living. Norwood does believe that the breeders (parents) of broilers have a welfare score of −4 (better off dead), but the ratio of breeders to broilers is 1 to 144 so his conclusion is that eating chicken increases animal welfare.
That differs from egg laying hens. Norwood gives caged hens, which currently represent the vast majority of the egg laying hens in the US, a welfare score of −8.
FWIW, I tend to disagree with Norwood’s views about broiler chickens and believe they are probably better off dead.
Okay, interesting. I was thinking more about Brian Tomasik’s numbers on quantifying suffering. Yeah, if it is the case that chickens tend to enjoy lives then the sign of meat consumption in Africa could very well flip, as the majority of the marginal animal-days of farming are taken by chickens.
One clarification: Norwood’s view, as indicated in the table above, is that broiler chickens (raised for meat) have a welfare score of +3 which means they have lives worth living. Norwood does believe that the breeders (parents) of broilers have a welfare score of −4 (better off dead), but the ratio of breeders to broilers is 1 to 144 so his conclusion is that eating chicken increases animal welfare.
That differs from egg laying hens. Norwood gives caged hens, which currently represent the vast majority of the egg laying hens in the US, a welfare score of −8.
FWIW, I tend to disagree with Norwood’s views about broiler chickens and believe they are probably better off dead.
Okay, interesting. I was thinking more about Brian Tomasik’s numbers on quantifying suffering. Yeah, if it is the case that chickens tend to enjoy lives then the sign of meat consumption in Africa could very well flip, as the majority of the marginal animal-days of farming are taken by chickens.