Today, on Halloween, costumed chickens flocked to the National Chicken Council’s (NCC) annual convention in our nation’s capital to urge the industry to give terrifying “nose bones” the boot once and for all. And in response, NCC’s Senior VP of Communications Tom Super acknowledged that the barbaric practice is hardly being used anymore in the industry--and pledged to take our request into consideration. Help ensure that the industry takes action by tweeting at the NCC to ban “nose bones” in its welfare guidelines TODAY!

On the heels of Compassion Over Killing’s investigation of several Tyson Foods broiler breeder farms, which offered the first hidden-camera look at the cruel practice of using “nose bones” – a dull plastic rod stabbed through the nostrils of young male breeder birds to restrict food intake – Tyson announced it was immediately ending the practice. And following discussions with COK, more industry giants (Perdue, Wayne Farms, and House of Raeford) also committed to stop using “nose bones.”

In the chicken industry, birds are bred to grow so unnaturally large, so quickly that their legs often collapse under the weight of their own morbidly obese bodies. The hearts and lungs of these genetically manipulated “frankenbirds” aren’t strong enough to sustain this growth for much longer than the average slaughter age of 45 days. So the feed intake of male birds kept as “breeders” is restricted through the use of “nose bones” in order to keep these rapidly growing birds alive long enough to reproduce.  This was once a common practice...

But the barbaric practice is set to fly the coop, as 17 of the top 20 poultry producers in the US have now confirmed that they do not use or are phasing out “nose bones,” thanks to your support. And more and more restaurant chains and retailers like Panera and Chipotle are listening to concerned consumers and beginning to address the reason “nose bones” were ever used in the first place--rapid growth.

Now it’s time for the voice of the industry, the NCC, to catch up by issuing an official policy against these archaic devices in its “broiler breeder” welfare guidelines, followed by all the major US poultry producers.

That’s why COK’s Executive Director Erica Meier appealed to the NCC earlier this week, writing, “Given that the overwhelming majority of the poultry industry has now either eliminated the use of ‘nose bones’ or never engaged in using them ...  it seems fitting for the National Chicken Council to update and amend its Guidelines to prohibit this barbaric, outdated practice.”

And at today’s demonstration, NCC VP Super acknowledged that the barbaric devices are flying the coop as fewer and fewer producers use them--and stated that the council would take this request into consideration when next updating its guidelines.

Help ensure the industry takes action! Fly home the message from today’s demonstration by tweeting at the council to ban “nose bones” once and for all! Just click here or use our sample tweet below!

SAMPLE TWEET: 17 of top 20 chicken companies say NO to terrifying “nose bones!” Please give “boning” the boot this #Halloween, @chickencouncil! http://bit.ly/nosebones via @TryVeg