Overview of ILO issues in Nova Scotia
Livestock
Poultry and Eggs
Eggs and poultry are supply managed, and for this reason are one of the strongest commodities in the province. See the "overview" section for a description of supply management in the province. Currently, there are approximately 84 chicken growers in the province that produce upwards of 43 million kilograms of meat a year (over 20 million chickens) and 744,000 egg-laying birds producing 17,493,000 dozen/yr.
Until recently, all poultry was sent to one of two processing plants in the province, Maple Leaf Poultry, or ACA cooperative ltd. Maple Leaf foods recently announced the closure of the processing plant in Canard, Nova Scotia for the Spring of 2007, leaving only ACA Cooperative Ltd to manage the load.
Most broiler (meat bird) farms confine their birds to the indoors, claiming "Our chickens are free to roam in large barns where they are protected against predators, hot summers, cold winters, and disease". While broilers are not housed in small cages like their egg-laying counter-parts, birds can still be densely housed in barns, with little to no access to the outdoors, with the same conventional feed as battery caged birds. Laying birds, however, are subject to the industrial method of caging 2–4 birds in one cage, allowing little space for natural behaviour.