Chloe Cooper
The evil Mrs Tweedy’s at it again! But how much truth can actually be found in Aardman’s Chicken Run films?
NOTE: The only thing that might get completely spoiled for you in this article is your perception of the chicken industry… however, we will also be talking about a couple of movie plot details (nothing major)!
How does Chicken Run compare to real-life chicken farming?
In Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget, Mrs Tweedy promotes her farm as an idyllic place for chickens. Ginger and Rocky's daughter, Molly, is led to believe that Fun Land Farms is a happy place for chickens to live but soon finds that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
This isn’t dissimilar to the way real-life chicken retailers run misleading advertising campaigns. Just like the film, supermarkets spend great amounts of money trying to convince customers that their chickens are living excellent lives. They use imagery of friendly farmers and healthy chickens, roaming in big open spaces.
But the truth is, the majority of chickens raised for meat live in horrific conditions which are far from the picture that supermarkets paint.
Chicken 'run'? Not for most chickens!
In the first Chicken Run film, the chickens are cruelly exploited for eggs and then turned into pies when they’re no longer productive. In Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget, their destiny is to become food, but what happens to chickens raised on real-life farms?
Sadly, the factory farming industry makes Chicken Run’s farms look almost decent. In fact, the conditions that many laying hens and chickens raised for meat live in would never be allowed to appear in a kids’ film.
In the UK as many as 14 million hens are still confined to enriched cages. These cages are cramped and dirty, they have little to no room for the hens to move around, preventing them from displaying their natural behaviours. The dream island that Ginger and the gang live on in Chicken Run II is far from reality for these chickens.
Male chicks are taken away and killed at just a day old as they are considered waste products, and when females are no longer considered productive, they’re cruelly slaughtered. This is usually at around 18 to 24 months old.
Chickens raised for meat face different but equally horrific treatment.
Around 90% of the one billion birds raised for meat in the UK are what we call ‘Frankenchickens’. These birds are bred to explode in size at break-neck speeds. They reach slaughter weight at just 35 days old, that’s like a human baby growing to the size of a tiger in six months. Because of this unnaturally rapid growth their bodies suffer immensely, leading to heart failure, muscle disease and debilitating lameness. Many of these chickens will not be able to walk, let alone run.
Are the characters in Chicken Run 2 realistic?
So the film may not show all of the horrors of factory farming (which is unsurprising seeing as it’s PG-rated!) but what about the characters themselves?
The Mrs Tweedys of this world
Well, the people who run the chicken industry may not be made out of plasticine, but they definitely hold some similarities to Chicken Run’s baddy. We know that, just like Mrs Tweedy, supermarket bosses are more than happy to fill their wallets off the back of animal suffering.
At The Humane League UK, our campaigns demand better from corporations, calling on them to make improvements to their laying hen and broiler chicken welfare standards. One of the most frequent excuses that these companies give for not doing the right thing is money, they just “can’t afford” to do the right thing. However, their executives’ enormous salaries and their gigantic yearly profits beg to differ.
Far more than a nugget
What about the heroes? Ginger, Rocky, and the gang may not be as fantastical as you may think.
It’s been shown that chickens form familial and friendship bonds. They courageously protect their young, just like Ginger protects Molly, and they can recognise up to 100 faces! Anyone who lives with chickens will tell you, these birds definitely have personalities. When given the space and opportunity they love to peck around for food, spread their wings, and flap around in dustbaths.
You may not see them hatching Great Escape-level plots, but chickens are far more intelligent than many people give them credit for. Did you know that chickens can count up to five from birth and can communicate with up to 24 different vocalisations?! Research has also suggested that they’ve exhibited mathematical reasoning, self-control, and even structural engineering!
A nugget of hope
The farms in the Chicken Run films may pale in comparison to the real-life atrocities of the factory farming industry, but it doesn’t need to be that way. People like you can give chickens raised for food a nugget of hope.
By signing up to our mailing list you can start your own Chicken Run adventure! We’ll send you updates on our mission to end the abuse of chickens as well as opportunities to get stuck in with digital actions. Will you help us see in the dawn of a new future for chickens?
