WHAT ORGANIC MEANS
The USDA requires that "organic" chicken are given organic feed and are raised without growth-promoting drugs. Although this is better for humans, it does not improve life for the chickens.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHICKENS?
When organic chickens get sick, producers will withhold medication to preserve the profitable “organic” label. This results in them suffering without relief when they are sick or injured.
Industry standard practices for farming organic chickens are the same as those on conventional farms, and bodily mutilations such as de-beaking are allowed without anesthetic.
Outdoor access is an organic standards requirement, but it is poorly defined, and so producers can provide limited access to a tiny outdoor plot of dirt and still qualify as organic.
Stocking density guidelines do not prevent producers from packing chickens into overcrowded sheds.
Organic chickens are killed in the same miserable slaughterhouses as non-organic chickens.
THE USDA
The USDA’s own advisory board states that organic chicken standards are poor. The standards are inappropriately influenced by a powerful agriculture industry to maximize profit.