Oeufre

Today’s commercial laying hens have been selectively bred for hyper-production. Reduced to mere production units, some improved breeds can lay over 300 eggs in a year – almost an egg a day. Kept in cramped battery cages, the vast majority of egg laying hens around the world spend their lives in total confinement. With barely any room to fully stretch their wings, they are unable to express even the most basic of natural behaviors.

Since art has become a commodity along with everything else, artists have been forced into the role of producing rather than creating. Some have traded quality for quantity and postponed their creative freedom to meet market demands. At the same time, there’s a prevailing idea that artists are doomed to lead a precarious existence and a lifetime of struggle. Most artists do not receive a fair compensation for their work and sometimes are even expected to sell below production costs.

Under these extreme conditions, both hens and artists are more likely to exhibit destructive behavior patterns. That is to say, they might start plucking their feathers, or aggressively pecking their flock mates. These findings can be easily extrapolated to society at large, though. The two reference groups represent only a small part of a growing number of individuals who end up paying the high price of low cost.