Give me a Break:
So the problem of using chickens for kapparos has nothing to do with the minhag, but rather everything to do with the beforehand tzar baalei chaim. That makes sense. However, the chickens are not so mistreated as you make it sound. First of all, they usually arrive at the designated kapparah place half dead. (the ones used in the shlacht houses all year round that you buy from the store also arrive at their destination in pretty bad shape with all sorts of machlos. That’s where the doctors from the USDA come in). At any rate, from all that I’ve observed (up front) the chickens are fed well and given to drink. But sometimes it’s too late… due to their poor health from the start. Perhaps we should go to the root of the problem and complain to the farmers and truckers who ship them under such poor conditions. But all of this is NOT to detract from the heiligkeit of the minhag.