Do you know what a broiler is? Hardly anyone knows about it, but almost everyone eats it.
But you have surely heard of "broiler chicken", as the industry defines it.
Well, with 'broiler' we mean all those chickens genetically selected by man to be able to consume their meat.
This type of chicken is so common that 98% of chickens raised in Italy are broilers.
Among broilers, the vast majority are so-called 'rapid growth' chickens, the result of an exaggerated genetic selection that a US agronomist started half a century ago.
This is because while the demand for chicken meat in the 30s and 40s increased dramatically, chicken, on the other hand, continued to grow with its timing, evidently too long for the needs of the market.
The industry has always been very skilled in inducing precise desires through its advertisements… and this is how the tables of consumers began to call for chicken, more and more chicken, and obviously at an ever lower price.
As a result, companies and breeders needed to maximize the yield of their animals.
How to do it then? Raising more and more chickens, in increasingly tight spaces?
Sure, but that wasn't enough.
We needed a chicken that grew quickly, preferably with a larger breast (considering that it was and is the most requested part), and that remained in the farm as little as possible. A solution was needed, and someone found it.
“Does the market need a big-breasted chicken that grows fast? And we give it to them!”
Thus, year after year, selection after selection, we have arrived at the "fast growing" broiler chickens, which in 30-40 days already have a swollen breast and thighs, and at a reduced price.
In 50 years, the daily growth rate of this type of chicken has increased by 400%, Laura, but that's not the only frightening figure.
Think that:
90% of chickens raised in the world are broilers
the vast majority of broiler chickens are ‘fast growers’
in all there are over 40 billion
7 billion are in Europe
half a billion are in Italy
As you can see, when we say that fast-growing broilers are the animals that suffer the most and the most, we are not saying it by accident.
(Indoors chicken farm, chicken feeding, farm for growing broiler chickens.)
This is already chilling, isn't it? Yet it is only the beginning of a series of testimonials that we will share with you in the coming days and which, I am sure, the chicken meat companies would not want you to know…
Because the body of a chicken that grows so fast and excessively is a real physiological prison... but we'll talk more about this later.
The fast-growing broiler is a chicken born "tailored" to the needs of human beings, who, putting their hand to genetic selection, did not take into account how much this animal could suffer and how much its life would have been intrinsically cruel.
Nobody ever talks about chickens, because they are considered second-class animals, which do not 'inspire' as much empathy as a pig or a calf can.
But in reality chickens are intelligent, sensitive and sociable as well as much more appreciated animals.
However, it is convenient for the industry that consumers think quite the opposite. Of things to tell, which he keeps carefully hidden, there are many, too many…
We have so many details to share with you that one email couldn't be enough, that's why we decided to send you 7, as 7 is roughly the life-hellish life-weeks of the fast-growing broiler chicken, against 5- 10 years a non broiler chicken would naturally live.
In these days we will try to dismantle the false beliefs around chickens, to understand what are the laws that should protect them and how to use them to do more justice. We will also talk about all the work we are doing to reduce their suffering.
Not only…
We will tell you the story of one of these chicks, one of many without a name: not only from our point of view, but also from his.
We will see its growth phases from week to week, starting from the torment of the hatchery.
Sometimes, you have to see to believe. But above all to remember which choice to make when you sit down at the table.
We ebook writers are not considered. Not only are ebooks still a small slice of the publishing market but they are also marginalized when it comes to large publishing. We are not valued, we are not interviewed, we are not really considered, despite our valid presence in the field of female fiction. It is absurd that in 2020 ebooks are still outside the publishing environment and competitions. When I read about some expensive creative writing courses I feel like screaming. I was for a short internship at Holden where I discovered “The Book Industry” and I refused to be part of it. I could have had contracts with big publishers but I said no. I could also have had the “push” from Camilleri, my fellow countryman, but I also refused this. And all this to help small publishers who have never even thanked me. I fight against the windmills every day because I’m not on facebook, I’m not on twitter, I’m not on intagram and tik tok … practically I don’t exist except on wordpress where I manage blogs. I’ve never written for money. I have not agreed to advertise on my blogs and I have never asked anyone to review me and I have never advertised myself. I’m naive in a world of hungry wolves trying to excel. And I see every day that people no longer reads many books, no longer leaves the house, does not want real relationships but only virtual ones and I … I am the opposite of this and I am isolated for my different ideas.
THE PRODIGY OF IDEAS 