This undercover video from Mercy For Animals reveals the truth about chicken meat. Nothing has been censored.

Not many know this, but chicken meat actually comes from genetically obese chicks who may look mature, but are actually only 6 weeks old. Since chickens can live to be 10 years old, 6 weeks for a chicken is like the equivalent of 1 year for a human.

Indeed, the industry uses chicks that have been genetically manipulated (using selective breeding) to grow very fast to huge proportions. Due to genetic manipulation, the chicks feel like they are constantly starving, no matter how much they eat. In their minds, they are never 'full' or 'satisfied' and are instead always hungry.

Their massive breasts put pressure on their heart and lungs, and many of the chicks suffer from respiratory diseases, which are worsened by the ammonia-filled sheds they are kept in during their short lives.

In addition to this, many chicks cannot move due to the fact that their legs can no longer carry their weight. In the more 'humane' farms, workers get rid of the chicks that can no longer walk to get water and food. In most farms, the chicks are left to slowly die, while the healthier chicks are forced to live among the dying and the dead.

Many chicken farms give the birds antibiotics, which induce rapid growth and reduce the diseases which occur naturally as a result of the crowding and filth in these farms.

Worldwide, over 50 billion over-grown chicks are slaughtered every year. Broiler chickens (which are the breed used by the meat industry) are the most slaughtered animal in the world, after fishes.