Setting: Lennons hotel Brisbane,
Early 2020…
The waiter takes my order
As a single diner
I have chosen a smaller table
Beside the only other smaller table
With two guys seated a shoulders width over
I begin to tune in to their conversation
Certainly can’t tune it out
They are very loud spoken
The different accent plays on my ear
American
Canadian?
Maybe neither
It doesn’t matter
One is built like he lifts a gym every morning
The other is lean, clean and has a slightly boring balding beige vibe
Nothing against balding
It’s how you wear it
I’m just describing
The mans aesthetic
Hat on backwards leans in
Elbows rocking the table
“So tell me about these chickens”
Beige guy suddenly turns into a rainbow
Ignited by his passion
Chickens!
He knows all about them
My granola arrives
As I listen to these two guys
For the next twenty minutes
Discussing everything
About poultry
In the middle of this city restaurant
As they run through the procedure of collecting eggs
Cleaning pens
Phone photos displayed of beige guys hen house
And all manner of chicken names flow around me
(He has names for all his ladies)
Meanwhile my brain is conjuring up what I now know about chooks
Thanks to too many Vegan documentaries and books
(You can’t un see once you’ve seen em – I curse my curious brain because actually…I used to love eggs and found backyard hens a delight)
…
The chicken industry is female biased
Every day millions of chickens are hatched
Little fluff balls
Clustering around artificial lights
Their mothers are nowhere in sight
This is their first love
The artificial light
After a period of 6-8 weeks
Sex is determined
The male chicks
Who have no purpose
Are usually terminated
Meat grinders
Gassing
Fantastic!
The thought is putting me off my breaky
I’m pulled out of my morbid reverie by excited laughter
“They are all such characters – with these personalities, like humans, once you get to know them – they are the sweetest things – so curious”
says beige guy …
“Wow that’s so cool my daughter loves animals – I was thinking of getting her a bunny”
Not in Queensland mate their illegal
But I don’t say it
I don’t say anything
It’s none of my business
I’m just describing a scene
They order the Eggs Benedict
And I think about that glass ceiling
Eggs
Dairy
Females
They love us when it comes to breeding
*
