# Geneticist pitches "naked" chicken. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 22, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234 "2002-05-22T03:26:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/1 "2002-05-22T03:26:26Z")
[Via New Scientist](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992307). Selling points: Reduced need for air-conditioning. Feed efficiency- Why waste meal on extravagences like feathers? Ease of processing. Less waste to dispose of. Um, excuse me sir, you’ve got a little bit of _evil_ on you, there. The picture of the _one_ is appalling enough, let alone legions of them in battery farms. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/2 "2002-05-22T03:44:28Z")
It’s ugly, that’s for sure. Beyond that, though, what’s the problem? Any cruelty issues about featherless chickens seem to pale in comparison to battery farming in general. The article mentioned that featherless roosters may have trouble mating. Are battery chickens usually bred the old fashioned way, or do they use artificial insemination? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/3 "2002-05-22T03:57:38Z")
All I have to say is: That’s one _uuuuuugly_ bird. ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/4 "2002-05-22T04:02:01Z")
I saw these on the news earlier tonight-- ewwwww. I’d also like to add that I read **children** instead of **chicken** , which made for one hell of an OP. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/5 "2002-05-22T04:16:22Z")
I eat somethat looks like _that_?!?! ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/6 "2002-05-22T04:55:51Z")
I don’t see what the problem is with this. Sure the chicken doesn’t look as great as some others you may see, but farmers don’t really raise chickens just so they can get a spot on _Elimidate_. If animal’s rights activists want to complain about anything, they might as well stick to the swift beheading of the chickens… because this pales in comparison. mmmmmm meat. LilShieste ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/7 "2002-05-22T05:12:45Z")
Wow. This is the coolest thing since laser guided eels. Science kicks ass! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/8 "2002-05-22T05:15:45Z")
I’ve read plenty of horror stories about battery farming, but it seems to me that this is a little beyond _animal-cruelty_ “icky”, to a sort of _you-want-me-to-eat-that-ugly-red-mutant-freak_ “icky” - the sort of “icky” that’s open to anyone, even if you’re not a dirty hippie. 😃 It’s not as abstract as your run-of-the-mill pesticide-resistant, (but not scary-looking) vegetable GM, or even the [spinach-enhanced pig](http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/gm/gm.jsp?id=ns99991841). When the animal looks too fucked up to live, how many people are going to feel comfortable eating it? ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/9 "2002-05-22T05:23:46Z")
I sort of thought it was cute. I love all chickens. They are sociable, intelligent birds and make great pets. I eat them as well. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/10 "2002-05-22T05:26:17Z")
Put me in with the group of people who are more concerned about battery farming than missing feathers. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/11 "2002-05-22T05:41:42Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s not as abstract as your run-of-the-mill pesticide-resistant, (but not scary-looking) vegetable GM, or even the spinach-enhanced pig. When the animal looks too fucked up to live, how many people are going to feel comfortable eating it? People eat octopus… ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/12 "2002-05-22T05:53:54Z")
I’m in favor of it. One of the uses is breeding them for poor farmers in undeveloped countries who cannot afford cooling systems for chicken farming. > [@](#): > > I’ve read plenty of horror stories about battery farming, but it seems to me that this is a little beyond animal-cruelty “icky”, to a sort of you-want-me-to-eat-that-ugly-red-mutant-freak “icky” - the sort of “icky” that’s open to anyone, even if you’re not a dirty hippie. I dunno, these chickens look like what a regular chicken looks like when you take the feathers off. Except they’re still alive. Heheheheh. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/13 "2002-05-22T05:58:32Z")
Y’know, when you get right down to it, your average feathered chicken is pretty damn ugly to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/14 "2002-05-22T05:58:56Z")
Me, I’d eat a chicken salad sandwich while looking at a featherless chicken photo album. I see no problem with this at all. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/15 "2002-05-22T06:03:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*Y’know, when you get right down to it, your average feathered chicken is pretty damn ugly to begin with. \*\* I think they are extremely beautiful birds. They are always depicted with stupid small beaks. But their beaks are actually long and beautifully curved, and their feet are huge and strong, like pterodactyl’s feel. Well-kept, their feathers are glossy, plump and full, their eyes are bright little jewels, and many have a lovely, warbling, songbird-like “cluck.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/16 "2002-05-22T06:19:27Z")
You’re freakin’ me out, over here. You don’t drive a bookmobile, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/17 "2002-05-22T12:51:06Z")
I heard on the radio this morning that people are against this because it’s “tampering with the food supply”. But this was made simply with selective breeding and cross-breeding, techniques that have been used since possibly pre-history. I’m not sure there are any chickens or cows on Earth anymore that **aren’t** products of selective breeding and cross breeding. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/18 "2002-05-22T13:16:13Z")
What’s a bookmobile? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/19 "2002-05-22T13:42:32Z")
Good call, **Revtim** , this is nothing but regular old cross breeding, just like we’ve been doing for the entire recorded history of animal farming. God forbid that anybody selectively breed a chicken that may help make food less expensive to produce. It’s only that this particular chicken breed is kinda “creepy” looking that makes people take notice. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234/20 "2002-05-22T13:44:44Z")
The only animal cruelty question I see here is, which is more comfortable and healthy under typical agricultural conditions, a feathered chicken or a featherless chicken? Battery farms aren’t going to go away, whether or not there are featherless chickens. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geneticist-pitches-naked-chicken/110234.md?page=2)