A chicken's life begins at a breeding farm, where each chicken lays on average 150 eggs per year. The eggs are collected each day and placed in a refrigerated room and then transported to the hatchery about once or twice a week. Here they are placed in incubators that observe strict health standards. Three short weeks later, the chicks are born. Each chick is thoroughly examined before they are transported to one of 2,800 chicken farmers across Canada, usually the same day they are born. Canadian chickens are not de-beaked. Once they reach the farms, the chicks are placed carefully throughout the climate-controlled barns on a litter of clean straw or fresh, dry wood shavings. Chicks are born precocial or able to walk, and are free to wander the barn at will. They are also free to drink and feed whenever they want. Each barn contains on average 32,000 chickens. Typically, a chicken farmer will raise five to seven flocks per year. It takes about five to eight weeks for a chick to mature and it will consume almost double its weight to reach a desired size. Once the chickens are mature, a catching crew comes in to load them into special trucks to transport them to the processing plants. Each chicken is inspected by a meat inspector under the supervision of a veterinarian to make sure it is healthy and safe to eat. The chicken is then prepared and cut into parts or left whole and sent to the grocery store. Other chicken that will be used in prepared and frozen foods is sent on for further processing. The whole chickens you find in the grocery store are either broilers, roasters or Cornish hens. The only difference is the size. The most popular are broilers, which weigh about 2 kg. Roasters are over 2 kg and take longer to cook. Chicken is so popular among Canadians that on average 600 million birds are raised per year. This is enough birds to circle the earth seven times.