They are frequently ringed by company housing, often trailers crowded with workers who pay rent through payroll deduction. Chicken is big business, bigger than peanuts in Georgia, tobacco in North Carolina, cotton in Mississippi and bigger that all crops in Arkansas or Alabama. Anything that doesn't go out as chicken for the supermarket is ground and cooked into animal feed. Those birds scratch, peck, and defecate all over the workers. The birds are stunned with electricity before processing.
Workers work quickly and often cut themselves and others.
Motions are fast and repetitive. Poultry processing ranks 3rd for cumulative trauma injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. There is no control over the fast pace of work. Cold temperatures add to the risks. The noise is overwhelming.