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Chicken Run
Applying modern technology to the task of corraling chickens for the slaughterhouse results in a chicken-catching machine that surprisingly is not as gruesome as it appears. Never thought about a "chicken vacuum" before? After reading this, you won't be able to get it out of your head. :) Sadly, scientists are already researching ways for the chickens to fight back.
Poultry in Motion: With Invention,
Chicken Catching Goes High-Tech
By SCOTT KILMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ELLIJAY, Ga. -- One enduring frustration of the poultry industry is that chickens can't be made to cross the road. Or even the chicken coop.
It's a snap to coax barnyard animals like pigs and cattle to go where you want them -- but "you can't herd chickens," says Paul S. Berry of the British Silsoe Research Institute, an agricultural-research center that has studied the problem for decades.
For that reason, poultry farmers have long relied on human catchers. Their job is to run around inside chicken houses, nabbing by hand more than eight billion birds a year. This is hard not only on the chickens, which get roughed up, but also on the catchers. The birds flap, scratch and befoul their captors. Most people can tolerate only a few months of that before flying the coop.
Now after years of attempts that ended in failure, including one ill-fated chicken vacuum, manufacturers have finally produced machines capable of catching and caging chickens. Looking like a combination airport baggage carousel and tank, the devices can capture 150 birds a minute. That's as many as a team of eight skilled men can corral.
"Automation is the way to go," says Brad Cole, live-production manager for a Tyson Foods Inc. slaughter plant in Georgia, the nation's top poultry-producing state. In a dimly lighted chicken house here in Ellijay, he stood and watched as one of the new harvesters, Lewis/Mola LLC's model PH2000, strutted its stuff.
Out of the gloom and dust of a chicken house as long as a football field, a PH2000 emerged. Hundreds of fluffy white birds tipped their heads and stared. The nine-ton, 42-foot-long contraption crept closer, slowly sweeping a low metal ramp back and forth through the flock like a giant scythe. The ramp gently nudged the birds in their chests. They lifted their feet to get out of its way, only to find themselves standing on the ramp itself. As more birds stepped on, they crowded one another toward a conveyor belt.
Whoosh! Each chicken was whisked up the belt into a small compartment, where a burst of air pushed it into a metal chute. Within seconds, the bird came to rest, blinking, still on its feet inside a wire cage.
In the past year, chicken companies including Tyson, Perdue Farms Inc. and Pilgrim's Pride Corp. have snapped up scores of the machines, which cost around $200,000. Today, about 5% of U.S. birds are caught mechanically, according to industry officials. The machines come from manufacturers including Bright Coop Inc., Techno-Catch LLC and Anglia Autoflow Ltd.
Some of the biggest fans are animal-rights groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The machines are far more gentle on the birds than human handlers are. "We support using machines that reduce the panic, fear and horror of chickens," says Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns, a Machipongo, Va., group that opposes eating chickens and also runs a sanctuary for a few lucky birds that manage to escape the farms (usually by falling off a truck).
Chickens hate being caught by human beings because catchers grab them by the feet and carry several birds upside down in each hand. "Being held upside down freaks out the birds," says Michael P. Lacy of the University of Georgia's poultry-science department. "As long as they are on their feet, they feel like they are in control, like people."
Human catchers are expected to snag as many as 1,000 birds an hour. As the men tire during eight-hour shifts, they accidentally slam birds against the cages, breaking wings and legs. Up to 25% of broilers on some farms are hurt in the process. By contrast, a recent study in the British scientific journal Animal Welfare found that a mechanical catcher in use in Germany reduced some injuries by as much as 50%.
That's good news for the birds, and also for the industry. Bruising disqualifies a chicken from the supermarket
--Chag
Aside from the fact that these are incredibly dumb animals, they have no reason to learn to avoid the machine. First time they experience it, they get sucked in and end up on my plate.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
Nope.. (And the McFish is invariable pollock).
I did chicken catching once when visiting relatives out in the country. I must say that chickens are very stupid.
Imagine a large barn with chickens covering the entire floor. As chickens are removed from the barn the remaining chickens do NOT move into the empty space, they remain packed together as the barn empties. There is no chasing involved.
The chickens do not react at all until you grab them by the legs, the most common reaction is to peck, scratch or shit on your hands. And it stank.
I do remember that I was paid well (for a 13 year old) for a few hours work and the farmers wife had a very nice breakfast ready for us when we were done.
I certanly wouldn't want to do it for a living.
mfg website (uses frames - scroll top frame down for selections)
bigger picture
specifications page
my sig:
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
Sure electrocution is not the best way to do it, but I guess we just have to hope that some creative person can think of a way.
Just to point out - the electric shock does not kill them, merely hurt like hell and stun them so the corpse doesn't keep moving.
The chickens aren't really alive after beheading, when they run around, just certain bits of muscle and nervous system keep going on inertia. The chicken no longer perceives pain. The only reason not to behead without the shock is to make the execution easier and thus cheaper.
It's called Kobe beef, and damn is it tasty.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
On this page is a movie from a competing system, using rubber fingers.
Bas
For those interested, here's a link to the product page, with a handy dandy video of it in action.
apparently no.
455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2
Um, if all chickens are female, how do they make more chickens? Budding? :)
Seriously, female chickens are called hens, and male chickens are called cocks. So, the female equivalent of the insult "cocksucker" would be "hensucker"
more info at the lewismola site. http://www.lewismola.com/
...day in & day out' reliability."
t ml
Also from the site....
"The PH2000 is powered by a 4-stroke Kubota 3300-TE. This engine has twice as much horsepower as any mechanical harvester on the market. This extra power significantly reduces engine strain which results in greatly extended machine life. Due to its combination of the Kubota 3300-TE along with high quality hydraulic, electronic and belt systems, the PH2000 has proven to have unparalleled 'on the job
and a detailed pic here..
http://www.lewismola.com/lmfrmspecphoto.h
Heil Sig! -Rob
Not the kind that you buy in the store. Laying hens are (obviously) female, but broilers (the kind you get cut up in the supermarket) are "straight run", meaning unsexed, about 50/50 sex ratio. They are killed at 8 weeks of age, before any significant hormonal effects take over.
2*16*40*52*5+200000=$532,800
two years for 8 workers
2*16*40*52*8=$532,480
After two years the owners reduce their costs by,
16*40*52*3 = $99,840 / year
What chicken farm owner wouldn't go for it?
Older geeks may have recognized this, or film geeks, but this was a Soylent Green reference. I think they even used the same damn sunset right from SG......the whole thing was, when you would die you got to pick your favorite color, they showed you some tranquil footage, played your favorite music, jacked you up with some narcotics and a lethal injection, and off you shuffled your mortal coil. :) And then they ate you.
Wow, this is almost word for word with the story shown to be false by the snopes link above. :)
Ok, so the subject is a bit misleading...thesen't aren't all killing tools but they're pretty crazy. It's worth a karma troll anyway. :)
Spinal Cord Remover
De-Horner
Bung Ring Expander (!!!!)
The Stun Box
Bung Droppers (Removes 1200 assholes an hour, no shit.)
Head Cutter
The Lung Gun (i don't want to know)
"Electrical Stimulation" (somehow, i think it does more than stimulate them...)