Factory farming is designed to stay out of sight.

When we see adverts for burgers, fried chicken, sausage rolls, we rarely see the individuals behind those products. Instead, we’re shown oozing burgers, tempting close-ups of battered bits of chicken, along with idyllic farm scenes. The lives of the animals themselves are completely absent.

Rather than using graphic imagery, we asked a simple question: what if people could meet a factory-farmed animal face to face?

How about creating life-size 3D models of broiler chickens?

Broilers are bred for meat and make up 90% of chickens farmed in the UK. They have been bred to grow bigger and faster. Chickens can live for six or more years under natural conditions. However those used in intensive farming will usually be slaughtered before they reach six weeks old.

How they are made

Using reference footage and photos from WeAnimals, we created 3D versions of the chickens using Cinema 4D. Each model was then 3D printed and individually hand-finished. We hand-painted every chicken, using subtle colours and textures to recreate details such as feather loss, bare skin and the heavy, rounded body shape that characterises fast-growing broiler breeds. Most of these chickens are bred to grow so fast that their legs can’t keep up with the size of their bodies. They often struggle to walk.

Which raises a simple question: if these are the chickens used to produce our food, why don’t we ever see them in KFC, McDonald’s or Pret advertising? We want to make visible what the ads leave out.

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about our 3D printing service.

Thanks to WeAnimals for the amazing work they do in exposing the reality of UK farming.