How Feather Extensions Are Changing the Way Chickens Live (and Die)

Would people wear these feathers in their hair if they knew the birds were euthanized in order to harvest them and that the meat was fed to hogs or thrown away? Probably.

"Almost 30 years ago, Tom Whiting got some eggs from Henry Hoffman, a chicken farmer and breeder in Oregon, who had been raising 2,500 chickens in his backyard. Hoffman was a fly fisherman who was breeding the birds for their feathers—the long, skinny, variegated feathers that fishermen use for tying into flies.
Now, Whiting has apparently become something of an unwitting feather king. Steven Tyler and Miley Cyrus have snatched up his feathers, which are now retailing for hundreds of dollars more than their suggested price, mostly because of growing demand from hair salons and pet groomers."

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