My new owners are subsistence farmers. Since they also own livestock, I have become the latest addition to the family. They feed me and give me the freedom to go wherever my heart desires. Despite the fact that I will end up in one of their pots someday, some years will go by before that happens. This is why they are the better option.

At this stage, you may be wondering who my previous owners were, and why I left them. Before you judge me, please grant me a few minutes of your time to explain.

My previous owners were greedy and cruel people. They own many chicken farms across the country, and this is where their main source of profit is located on a large-scale. Ensuring a steady supply of us to very demanding consumers has resulted in them becoming wealthy. On the surface level, nothing seems wrong with their industry. They are just producers who sell a product to consumers. However, when one looks at what they do to their products and how they meet the high demand for them, a darker image emerges, and a more predatory industry comes to light.

I was born in one of these chicken farms, and I used to be what is commonly referred to as a ‘battery chicken’. The life of a battery chicken is extremely difficult and miserable, because they are some of the most abused animals on Earth. From my time of birth, I was subject to mutilation, confinement, and deprivation of the ability to live my life as the active, social being that I am.

I used to live in a wired battery cage with many of my other brothers and sisters. Morning came when our abusers turned the lights on, and as for the night, it came when they did the opposite. They used concentrated feeding, and as a result, we gained more than 50g in weight every day. In addition to that, they injected us on a daily basis with hormones in order for us to reach “slaughter weight’’ as soon as possible.

Many of my brothers and sisters who went for slaughtering were still babies. Almost all of them suffered from physical problems like lameness, weakened or broken bones, infections, and organ failure. However, since demand dictated things, they had to go.

My day for slaughtering also came. I was determined on not experiencing the pain that my counterparts had felt, so I had to escape. Usually, what happens is that the selected chickens are taken from the cages and moved to the slaughter house. At the slaughter house, they are stunned with electricity and moved to a mechanical blade that cuts their throats. After bleeding out, they are plunged into a scalding bath that removes their feathers.

This dreadful process was playing in my mind on the day, and I just could not imagine myself going through it. After a life of pain and abuse, that was the last thing I needed.
***
One of the abusers came to get us ready for the move. As usual, he had to first open the cage and clear it out before taking us away. Just as he opened it, I wasted no time waiting. I let out a loud cluck, and I jumped out of the cage. For a moment, the abuser was shocked, and this is what helped me make my escape. I just kept running towards the exit, and by the time I reached the gate, he had given up. After all, I was just one of many other potential victims.

Nonetheless, I kept running for my life.

The journey was very long for an unfit and weak fellow like myself. It seemed as if it would last forever, and that I would never find refuge. Just as I was about to let a car take my life, a small house caught my attention, and I immediately made my way there.

Upon arrival at the house, I was welcomed by the clucking of around 200 other chickens. The clucking alarmed their owners, who came outside. Upon seeing me, they threw a couple of grains my way, and that was their way of accepting me into the family. From that moment on, I knew that that was the best place to be.

**********

As I walk around the yard today, I am thinking about my past, and how difficult it has been. I am thinking about my journey to freedom, and how exhausting it was. Many can learn from my story. Never allow your abusers to kill you. They can abuse, but do not let them kill, and escape while you still have the chance.

At this stage, I also wish to share another thought with you.

I know my destiny on this Earth, and I know why God created me. My sole purpose on this Earth is to satisfy the stomachs of men, and I have accepted that. However, I know that we at least deserve to grow in an environment where we are free. We deserve to grow naturally until we reach full maturity, and we deserve to eat correct food and not to have hormones injected into us. Only after that can we be used for consumption. I doubt that this is too much to ask for.

I hope that our pain and suffering in those death camps will end. After all, humans are the ones who suffer the risk of diseases and death after eating the manufactured version of us. So, they should think about such things.

***

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