US chicken companies pioneered restricting sleep to keep birds eating around the clock.

A new study (Li et al., 2026) recommends giving chickens just 2 hours of darkness nightly to maximize the time they spend eating. The study and photo are Chinese.

We know chickens have far better hapiness with 7–8 hours of darkness to sleep.

But they eat more and grow faster when they are sleep deprived.

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
    37·
    20 hours ago

    No, not even a random idiot believes any random unverified claim… and they are even more suspicious of things that tickles their fancy and aligns with what they want to hear, because they are aware of how easy it is to slip into complacency and sacrifice their critical thinking for comfortable outrage.

    Also, even a random idiot could do a cursory search to find

    § 205.241 Avian living conditions.

    For layers and all other fully feathered birds, artificial light may be used to prolong the day length, to provide up to 16 hours of continuous light per 24-hour period (i.e., minimum of 8 hours of continuous darkness per 24-hour period). Artificial light intensity should be lowered gradually to encourage hens to move to perches or settle for the night. Artificial light spectrum may not be manipulated to increase feed intake and growth rate.

    But that doesnt let us wallow in comfortable outrage, so of course we’re not gonna do that.

    • Frigidlollipop@lemmy.world
      21·
      18 hours ago

      May not be allowed to be manipulated… according to what country? A random Google search can pull from any country’s standards, EU ones are some of the best. With that said, I was not able to find a reliable source for this purported study, either.