this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2026
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Record temperatures have been causing mass poultry deaths in western France since June 22, Reuters reported. The heat wave, with temperatures exceeding 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit), is also behind the drowning of 40 people. Météo-France, the French national weather service, wrote in a statement that June 24 and 25 were the hottest days recorded in France since records began in 1947. Yann Nedelec, head of ANVOL, a French poultry-sector organization, estimated that at least several hundred thousand poultry in both indoor and outdoor farms died, though he told Reuters it was too soon for a precise death count. Chicken farmer Clement Blanchard, based in Saint-Andre-Goule-d’Oie, a commune in Pays de la Loire, told Reuters that around 700 of his chickens had died over the span of a few days, compared to an average death rate of one or two per day. “We’re faced with the same thing with our animals as we ​are ourselves: they suffer enormously from the heat, and so at times like this there are abnormally high death rates,” he told Reuters. Stéphane Delapré, a poultry breeder in Beauvoir-sur-Mer in Normandy, northwestern France, told AFP that the heat on June 22 had killed roughly half of his 17,600 chickens.  “Half of the chickens died, suffocated by the heat: those that were in the buildings and also those that were under the trees,” he said. “In [my] 42-year … career, I have never seen anything like it.” The Chamber of Agriculture in both Brittany and Pays de Loire,…This article was originally published on Mongabay


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[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 22 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Blame the heat, or the guy who kept the chickens stuck in a place that was too hot to live.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 days ago

“Half of the chickens died, suffocated by the heat: those that were in the buildings and also those that were under the trees,”

what if the place they were stuck was outside

[–] python@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Wasn't overheating the barns until every chicken died one of the accepted culling methods a few months ago when bird flu was a thing? Why would anyone be surprised that barns that are designed to overheat do exactly that?

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

They chicken barns I have seen have large intake fans on one end of a long building and large outtake fans on the other, if it is too hot outside then it just works like a giant air fryer.

[–] vincentpants@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 days ago

Blame the politicians and climate deniers who got us here?

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 19 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Go vegan, folks. This is unnecessary.

[–] hans@feddit.org 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

did you try that? I know lots of folks have, and yet this is still happening.

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It'll take a lot more people making the switch to put an end to factory farms, but again it's the right thing to do.

[–] hans@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

there's probably a more effective method

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] hans@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

well this one isn't working.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

We could make meat illegal. Just like we did with cannibalism.

[–] hans@feddit.org 0 points 4 days ago (2 children)
[–] o1011o@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Yes, I will personally try to make all abuse illegal. Are you insinuating that some abuse should be legal so long as the victim is in a certain class?

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Are you implying you would not allow this great idea?

[–] hans@feddit.org -1 points 3 days ago

I'm saying that is probably a better use of time than soaking beans

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Going vegan isn't working?

[–] hans@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

Yes... I feel like I'm being trolled with these takes and replies.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago (3 children)

You dont need veganism to stop factory farms... this is a pure captialism problem.

[–] o1011o@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Factory farms produce the overwhelming majority of all animal products because the only way to deliver those to a substantial amount of people is to industrialize the process. It is incredibly difficult to avoid supporting factory farms without being vegan. Even if it were possible, would it somehow suddenly be right to kill another sentient being solely for your own pleasure just because it happened outside of an industrial process?

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

because the only way to deliver those to a substantial amount of people

at the current consumption from western cultures, sure. But plenty of cultures that maintain a largely plant diet supplemented with animal protein.

And ecosytems absoutely require predators to maintain balance. Unfortunately our ancestors destroyed natural predators in our ecosystems so their livestock wouldn't be harmed. So which is more morally wrong? Hunting to reduce populations or let them starve overpopulated?

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago

Yes you do. People struggle so much with scale.

[–] osanna@lemmy.vg 0 points 4 days ago

And why does it matter if they are factory farmed or “free range”(it’s a myth). They all want to live their life free from harm and they have a preference to not die, just as humans do.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip -4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah we know. The world is full of people capable of change but can't be bothered to give up their comforts.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Not comfort. It's also full of people that enjoy better food.

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip -1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Buddy, you're a lot of what's wrong with the world.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Funny how you think being vegan solves everything. You are a huge part of bullshit.

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You're literally too stupid to argue with. Good luck...

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

Same idiot.

[–] Mountainaire@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Eggs are among the greatest sources of protein in existence...

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] Mountainaire@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

They're mightily convenient is all I'm getting at.

[–] osanna@lemmy.vg 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

And the chickens who die for those eggs? Do they count for anything?

[–] BrickEater@lemmy.world -1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You do know chickens don't die laying eggs... Right?

[–] osanna@lemmy.vg 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Yes they do actually. When the hens start producing fewer eggs, they’re sent to the slaughter house. Chickens can live for 8-10 years, but they sent away at roughly half of that. Also, the eggs that get fertilised to replace the mother hens who are slaughtered at a fraction of their potential lifespan, if they have too many fertilised, they are killed at HOURS old. Also, if they’re fertilised are boys, they will Be killed because they don’t lay eggs. Baby chicks are usually killed in one of two ways. Firstly, they could be suffocated to death. The other “humane” way is to put them in a blender. It’s called a macerator and they are ground up ALIVE into a paste.

So yes, chickens are in fact killed in the egg industry.

Edit: also, the chickens are often crammed into cages and have next to no room to move. They’re treated so badly. Even “free range” are treated badly. Technically they have access to outside, but they, for the most part, don’t. They are crammed into sheds by the tens of thousands. So they have access to a door that lets them outside, but because of severely fucked up pecking orders (by virtue of being crammed into sheds by the tens of thousands), they can’t get out.

Is your omelette really worth all this pain and suffering?

[–] Mountainaire@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

because of severely fucked up pecking orders

Wait, I didn't know about this. Do you mean some bully hens prevent certain others from being able to go outside? Do you have a link to an article about this?

Crap. Hmm...

[–] osanna@lemmy.vg 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Nah. Hens are crammed in by the thousands, when normally there wouldn’t be more than tens of chickens in a group in the wild ( though the chickens we have now are very far removed from wild chooks due to selective breeding. Example being that wild chooks lay 10-12 eggs a year. Much like humans. But the chooks we use for egg laying lay 1-2 A DAY), so moving around in the shed where there are tens of THOUSANDS of chooks, makes it hard to get to the door to get out.

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Scroll to the top of your screen and try to read the article title again.

[–] Baguette@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Aren't egg laying hens not farmed for meat? Egg farms don't really sell them for meat, they live to an age where they don't lay eggs anymore and the meat is too tough for consumer taste.

Chicken for poultry are a separate farm system because those are grown just for meat.

Both have their flaws but one does not equal another

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Correct. Generally these are completely different breeds.

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world -3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That's not the important takeaway here

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oh? What's the "important" takeaway then?

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world -5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You honestly read a story about climate change induced extreme heat waves and thought that dead chickens were the most important part of the story?

[–] bloogoose@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 days ago

... I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Factory farming is one of the main contributors to global warming. That's why I said go vegan.

[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 1 points 2 days ago

I love how the fuck cars religious zelots take over single threads in Lemmy like the plaque. This time its vegans.

Every time somebody peddles a simple solution to a complex problem you are being delusional.

Climate change is certainly a complex problem, and switching to a majority plant based diet is certainly a facet of a potential solution to reducing climate emissions. That mainly is about reducing the number of cows. That's not veganism though.

Factory farming with cut throat (he he) margins like in this case is certainly a problem. The problem is a race to the bottom in price and a facet of the solution is reducing consumption and stringent regulation. Again thats not a veganism solution.

In both cases it would help, but its an extreme and unhealthy solution nobody wants. Veganism is a personal choice and I respect your choice. Now respect peoples c right to choice and fuck off trying to push your religion on others.