Chicken Vending Machine Is Called Egg-Machine

Yes, that is a vending machine with live chickens inside it. No, this isn't the latest weird machine from China or Japan where the buyer can get a live dinner that they have to kill and cook up. We have seen vending machine from Japan and other places over the years that dispense things like bananas, hot soup, and even live crabs.

This vending machine is actually a public statement by a German animal rights group called NOAH that is apparently sort of like PETA here in the states. The machine was designed to get people's attention on the plight of the helpless hen. Apparently, hens are stuck in little boxes all day like the ones in this machine and have their eggs pilfered by hungry folks. The machine didn't actually dispense eggs.

The machine and the promotion team gave chips that had numbers that correspond to the way some chickens are held. The coins had 0 (Ökohaltung), 1 (free range), and 2 (bottom position) and 3 (cage) to show how some of the chickens live. The idea is that only eggs with the number 0 or 1 are the type that should be purchased.