Beaks

I have a friend with a wonderful pet bird whose beak was just seriously injured. It gave me cause to seek out information on birds' beaks. Here is what I found in Wikipedia, the attribution is to Temple Grandin (so let's face it, it's completely credible) and while her bird's beak wasn't "trimmed," the information here leads to a larger issue on the subject:

"Because the beak is a sensitive organ with many sensory receptors, beak trimming is "acutely painful" to the birds it is performed on. It is nonetheless routinely done to intensively farmed poultry flocks, particularly laying and broiler breeder flocks, because it helps reduce the damage the flocks inflict on themselves due to a number of stress-induced behaviors, including cannibalism, vent pecking and feather pecking. A cauterizing blade or infrared beam is used to cut off about half of the upper beak and about a third of the lower beak. Pain and sensitivity can persist for weeks or months after the procedure, and neuromas can form along the cut edges. Food intake typically decreases for some period after the beak is trimmed. However, studies show that trimmed poultry's adrenal glands weigh less, and their plasma corticosterone levels are lower than those found in untrimmed poultry, indicating that they are less stressed overall."

Editorial: YOU ALL DO KNOW that when you buy eggs at the grocery store, that UNLESS the carton says CAGE FREE or FREE RANGE, there is every likelihood that the eggs came from debeaked chickens? You did know this, right? I have only bought cage free eggs for years, and for what? A few cents more per egg. Think about it, won't you?