Our latest series reveals the truth about chicken sentience, factory farming, and the future of food systems.
Chickens are not commodities. They are sentient beings with rich emotional lives. While this may sound like breaking news, science has confirmed it for decades. Chickens feel, think, and experience the world in ways not unlike us. Yet in today’s factory farming systems, their sentience is ignored, denied, and systematically exploited.
At World Animal Protection, we are launching a new video series that will help uncover the truth about chickens—their intelligence, their capacity for joy and suffering, and the brutal conditions they endure inside industrial farms in our broken food system. Our goal is to help people see chickens not as products, but as individuals who deserve compassion and protection.
The Reality of Factory Farming
Chickens are naturally curious and social creatures. They play, explore, and interact with objects in their environment. They recognize one another, remember their companions, and can even grieve the loss of friends. They thrive when they have space to move, opportunities to forage, and a safe, stimulating environment.
In factory farms, however, these natural behaviors are stifled. Birds raised for their meat or eggs are crowded into barren sheds or battery cages where they cannot move freely, stretch their wings, or express normal social behaviors. Everyday practices, including beak trimming and extreme growth rates, cause ongoing pain, discomfort, illness, and injury. Chickens endure constant stress and fear, especially in the moments leading up to slaughter. Every experience in these systems—from overcrowding to handling to the slaughterhouse—is felt deeply by these intelligent and aware animals.
Why This Series Matters
This series will explore many facets of chickens’ lives and expose the horrific systems that exploit them for food. Our pilot episode reviews how chickens are sentient beings who can feel pain and experience a wide range of emotions. Future episodes will dive into the environmental impacts of industrial chicken farming, the role of disease outbreaks, and the broader consequences for animals, people, and the planet. Each installment will deepen understanding of chickens as sentient beings, encourage reflection on the choices we make as consumers, and highlight pathways to a kinder, more compassionate world.
Take Action for Chickens
The truth is clear: chickens are not something to be used—they are someone. Each chicken is a living, feeling being who deserves care, freedom, and protection. It is time to end factory farming and create a food system that respects the lives of all animals.
Follow us on social media to be the first to see new episodes as they are released, and join Plant-Powered Changemakers to take meaningful action for a more compassionate world.
