Zombie chicken

Zombie chicken is a term used for an improperly sedated chicken that awakens after being buried for compost.

In the poultry industry, "spent" hens that are too old to lay eggs are typically killed and composted. They are not used for meat, as these chickens typically yield one pound of edible meat, compared to five pounds yielded by a bird that has been raised to be eaten. The industry practice is to place the birds in a container filled with carbon dioxide until asphyxiated, and then covered with sawdust to facilitate composting. The compost is typically sold to farmers.

However, sometimes hens that have not been properly sedated will survive to climb out of the sawdust layers. Such birds are nicknamed "Zombie Chickens" by workers. Animal rights advocates view the appearance of zombie chickens as evidence that elderly hens are not being killed humanely. An unidentified source has stated that two out of every 40,000 hens survives the process. [cite news | url=http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/NEWS/611220399/1033/NEWS01 | title=Recycling chickens: Farmers turn to composting amid collapsed spent-hen market | last=Young | first=Tobias | publisher="The Press Democrat" | date=2006-11-22]

Zombie chickens are celebrated in the Troma production of "" as well as the comedic/horror novel "Cluck: A Murder Most Fowl" by Eric D. Knapp.

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