Its a minhag & as long as I can I will use a chicken.. on the other hand.. how about us not dumping so much challah into the prospect park lake that there are clunks of challah floating all over? SMH
I have also used chickens all my life, but now I'm having second thoughts about it. I'm not intimidated by protesters, but I do question the lengths to which one is to go to fulfil a minhag which has alternative methods of being performed. The protesters that I have seen in the past seem to be legitimate kooks who are concerned about the welfare of the chickens, not anti-Semites or anti-religious like some people claim.
I personally do not believe that there is a way to perform kapparos en masse without the chickens suffering. That said, maybe those who wish to perform the minhag should privately arrange to purchase chickens from a farmer and then bring them over to a shochet (like the old days).
I also wonder about the deafening silence from Rabbanim of all communities. There should be some kind of p'sak as to whether this should continue or not.
Remember that kapparos is a huge business, and those that run the business are going to be the biggest proponents of this minhag.