Of all the intensively-farmed creatures, battery hens probably have the worst deal when it comes to quality of life, but science may have provided a technological answer to provide an enhanced quality of life for these birds.

Public concern has prompted a slow trend towards more "free range" farming, but for millions of hapless birds, life still consists of a cage which offers approximately 750 cm² of space; 600 cm² of which is "usable area" and the other 150 cm² is utilised for a nest-box.
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Animals are trying t communicate with us, but we don’t know how to interpret their sounds. For instance, chickens can’t speak, but they can definitely make themselves heard. Most people who have visited a poultry farm will recall chicken vocalization–the technical term for clucking and squawking–as a memorable part of the experience.

Researchers now believe that such avian expressiveness may be more than idle chatter. They are investigating whether the birds’ volubility can provide clues to how healthy and comfortable they are.
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Researchers have found evidence of a surprising pathway for potential human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from intensively raised poultry: driving behind trucks carrying chickens!
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For those of us who have just finished off the turkey, it’s god to know that environmentalists want to make sure we use EVERY PART of the poultry we eat. Clothes may eventually be made out of chicken feathers. Now it turns out that egg shells may help to power hydrogen-fueled cars.

In LiveScience.com, Dave Mosher reports that in the future, leftover eggshells could provide fuel to start hydrogen cars, since they can be ground up and used to filter out carbon dioxide, a by-product of hydrogen production.

Mosher quotes engineer L.S. Fan as saying, “The key to making pure hydrogen is separating out the carbon dioxide.”
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