Absolutely. That's the crux of the issue: do chickens' lives and feelings have any value? If so, how should society impose that value system on an enormous industry that optimizes to extract value from chickens' suffering?
E.g. 1 - 'free range' chickens have almost no extra space per chicken compared to battery-farmed chickens, and many die after being trampled by the others. They are at least a breed which can stand on its own legs - battery chickens can't even walk.
E.g. 2 - 'organic' animals must not be fed antibiotics (which means their general conditions must be good enough for not too many to die from disease, which is otherwise avoided by routine antibiotics in feed). This means sick animals are generally left to die rather than be treated, since allowing antibiotics would lose organic status.
E.g. 3 - For eggs: no matter how good the conditions are for the hens, egg-laying chickens are a different breed to chickens-for-meat. Ergo, all male layer chicks are redundant, and are killed immediately on hatching (normal method is to grind the chicks en masse).
Eating animals is not a pleasant thing. Definitely worth reading up on.
(FTR: I eat animals, eggs, and dairy. I'm struggling to find out how to do so ethically, given the current 'ethical' labels are so close to meaningless.)
After we left our hobby farm I decided to not eat anything smarter than a fish. (I don't eat octopus)
I like being Pescatarian.
I do try to avoid wild fish for ethical/environmental reasons. Food animals should always come from a farm, obviously.
The level of intelligence I will eat, between chicken and fish, is totally arbitrary.
I think this is true for anyone who is not actually vegetarian.
The next level down is insects and oysters, I suppose.
I am a vegetarian, and I disagree with this. I feel that it is more ethical to kill and eat an animal that has at least been given a chance to live a free and natural life, vs. confining it to a prison from birth.
Of course, it would be impossible to maintain humanity's current level of meat consumption without animal farms. I would prefer that people dramatically reduce their meat consumption, and eat only hunted/caught animals.
Don't eat octopus because they are smart
Eat fishes, even those able to detect, hunt, defeat and eat octopus (therefore smarter than them)
Same thing a sad or lonely chicken makes: food.
Since happiness is generally associated with good health I'd wager happier chickens are healthier, ergo, tastier.
Is it? Isn't human happiness associated with human good health?