A friend had a job in the 70's at a research lab, and one of their duties was to use a hot iron to curl the beaks of each incoming batch of chicks, to help prevent pecking. They called the tasking "giving the chickens lips". I like the glasses solution a bit better.

I don't get it though - how does this help prevent pecking? The only reasoning seems to be in the 1911 article, where it suggests they're made to protect the chickens' eyes.

I can not find pictures of chicken wearing those particular glasses depicted in this Wikipedia article.

This made my day.

Well, I know more about abnormal injurious behavior in birds than I did an hour ago

The fact that this article doesn’t include any images of chickens wearing said goggles is an injustice.

Nowadays they do the same using red lights in industrial egg production, if pecking becomes a problem in a flock.

Chickens are hilarious and surprisingly adorable. All plans of eating ours went right out the window when I brought home the first wave of day-old chicks.

They can be very mean to each other. “Pecking order” is literally true and the results can be heartbreaking. Ours have never pecked each other’s eyes, thank heaven, but I’m guessing most of that is from the roosters, not the hens. Roosters can get disgustingly rapey and have to be separated from the hens, who can get seriously injured during the mating process.

Is the driver of behaviour having too many chickens packed in too small space?

The article talks in the past tense, but doesn't mention what it got replaced with.

Searching for it reveals pink plastic chicken glasses for sale today, so they still seem to exist. Or maybe those are blinders instead

Alternatively, we could treat fellow sentient beings with a bit of empathy and respect and not cram thousands of them into an artificial environment. Then we wouldn't have to cram them full of antibiotics, cut their beaks off and make them wear 'cute' glasses.

The idea that we once mass-produced rose-tinted chicken glasses to curb pecking violence is peak “solutions in search of a problem” energy - but also a fascinating glimpse into pre-industrial animal welfare hacks.