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Bad News: Chickens Are Getting Too Lazy to Mate, and That Will Affect You in Big Ways

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Chicken is perhaps the most versatile meat and no doubt a staple at your dinner table. You can often snag it for a good deal at your grocery store, and it’s a great source of protein, so what’s coming next will be mighty disappointing news.

Mirroring a sentiment that we have all felt a time or two, chickens, just like some parents, are having a serious lazy moment. And that’s because breeders, in an effort to keep up with the always growing desire for chicken, have created a bird that’s too top-heavy to be interested in mating. This bird, which came from breeding large roosters with large hens, gives consumers more meat than ever before, but because these chickens are less frisky than their predecessors, they’re producing fewer eggs. Chicken that do mate are older, and as a result, their eggs are less likely to hatch.

Yikes! Talk about a catch-22.

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Craving chicken now? These Fruity Pebbles chicken tenders will do the trick.

According to the _ Wall Street Journal_, to keep up with current demand, farmers need to introduce 750 million new chickens every month. Even just a one percent decrease in the number of viable eggs means the poultry industry loses $120 million.

So what does that mean for consumers like you and me? Well, it means that chicken prices are probably going to go up. Fewer eggs means less chicken is available to buy, so the price will inevitably rise.

That’s bad news for not just bodybuilders; this will affect families who are trying to get their essential nutrients on a budget. The accessibility of chicken might be at stake if someone doesn’t come up with a way to ahem properly motivate the chickens.

And not to be an alarmist, but scientists aren’t even sure why there’s been a decrease in the chickens’ libidos. Research indicates it might be a result of overfeeding or underfeeding which impacts health and therefore libido.

Or maybe chickens have just gotten fed up… Who knows?

via GIPHY

h/t Country Living

NEXT: These chicken thigh recipes will make you instantly forget about the price hike.

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