Undercover at a California Factory Egg Farm

Imagine spending your entire life crammed into a tiny wire cage – packed shoulder to shoulder with others of your own kind.

You are so crowded that you cannot walk or even fully extend your limbs. Imagine living side by side with the rotting bodies of your cage mates and suffering for weeks on end with untreated wounds and infections.

For over 250 million hens in the United States this is their daily reality.

A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation is throwing back the curtains on one of California’s largest factory egg farms - exposing the routine abuse that takes place behind the closed doors of our nation’s egg industry.

From August – September, an MFA investigator worked at Norco Ranch in Menifee, CA, documenting standard egg industry animal abuse, including:

• Birds confined in tiny wire cages so small they couldn’t walk, perch, fully stretch their wings, or engage in other basic behaviors
• Ill birds neglected to die on top of dead piles – denied veterinary care or proper attention
• Workers killing birds by grabbing their necks and swinging them around in circles – an attempt to break their necks which often resulted in prolonged deaths for the animals
• Hens suffering from bloody open wounds and untreated infections
• Dead hens left to decompose in cages with birds still laying eggs for human consumption
• Birds trapped in the wire of their cages or under the feeding trays without access to food or water

MFA's newest investigation illustrates once again that animal cruelty and neglect are the egg industry standard.

Such investigative footage is further evidence that battery cages are inherently cruel and should be banned. This November Californians will have a chance to do just that by voting yes on proposition 2 – a modest proposal that would grant farmed animals in the state the ability to stand up, turn around, lie down, and extend their limbs.

As consumers we can choose to support kindness over cruelty at each meal. Adopting a compassionate vegan diet is one of the best actions we can take to prevent needless animal suffering and end the conditions documented during this investigation.

Investigator's Dairy

Thursday, 8/21/08

I saw two hens with prolapsed uteruses, both bloody and fully protruded, with feces and a pink fluid covering the rear feathers and down.

Friday, 8/22/08

In every barn I saw birds with feces-encrusted hind ends, and when I observed them closely, I saw they had raw hind ends and swollen flesh around their cavities.

I saw that one of the piles of dead birds had a live hen lying in it. She was lying on her side and would move only her neck and head.

I noticed that some cages contained five to six birds.

About 20% of the hens had mangled beaks, likely the result of careless de-beaking. Some of their bottom beaks were twice the length of their top beaks, making it difficult for them to pick up food.

Saturday, 8/23/08

I found two hens with atrophied crests who were lethargic and thin. One of them had her head lodged under her front cage wall.

Sunday, 8/24/08

Several dead hens were piled onto a cart and I saw that one hen was still shallowly breathing. Her head was hanging down and she was gasping for breath with her eyes closed, a clear fluid occasionally dripping from her mouth. I pointed this out to a worker and asked if it was a problem. He said “No. Pretty soon it’s dead.” He then grabbed her by her head, picked her up and spun her in circles a few times before dropping her back onto the dead pile. For about 90 seconds the hen lay there twitching.

I saw three hens with pus-filled, scabbing abscesses on their faces today.

I found a hen in a top cage with a large prolapse dripping blood. There was one other hen in her cage who had a bloody beak, indicating that this bird had been cannibalizing the prolapse.

Monday, 8/25/08

I saw four more hens with prolapses today. One was bleeding so heavily that it was a blood-soaked pile of feces on the egg belt that drew my attention to it. I also saw four bloodstained hens inside the cage.

Wednesday, 8/27/08

I found four hens with atrophied crests who were very lethargic. I placed three of them on top of cages, where one sat and two lay down, all of them motionless. Only one responded to my petting her, at which point she briefly raised and then lowered her head.

Thursday, 8/28/08

I saw a lethargic hen in a cage with a hardened hind end, swollen to twice the size of a normal chicken’s. What few feathers remained on the swollen area were coated in feces.

I saw two live hens lying on the floor. One was holding her head up, while the other rested her head on the ground. Neither could walk or flap her wings. I picked one up, who kicked lightly once and then let her head droop as she shut her eyes. The other bird let me pet her, kicking softly when I initially touched her but then lying motionless.

Friday, 8/29/08

In all of the barns I saw many birds with neuromas, painful tumors of the nerves, on their upper and lower beaks, some up to ¾ of an inch in diameter and covered in scabs.

The floor of one of the barns was cleaned while I was working in it, revealing maggots crawling over the floor of the barn.

Saturday, 8/30/08

I noticed about 40 dead chickens piled up inside and outside of barn bay doors and collected into a dozer blade this morning.

I also found a hen with a massive prolapse, covered in fresh blood. The hen walked low to the wire flooring and was being trampled by other birds in her cage.

Sunday, 8/31/08

I saw that one bird, lying underneath several other hens piled onto a metal cart, was still alive. It was clear that she was alive and breathing, with her head rising and falling as it hung toward the floor.

In one of the barns I saw a hen with her right leg bent back backwards about 45 degrees.

Monday, 9/1/08

I saw an egg with fresh blood on it in the egg collection belt. I then saw that one hen in a cage of four had openly bleeding tears on the outside of her cavity.

I also found a heavily decomposed hen in a top cage with three live hens. Her body was trampled flat with organs dangling through the wire flooring.

Thursday, 9/4/08

There were about 45 dead chickens in barns today. Two of the dead hens were in a cage together with two live hens.

Friday, 9/5/08

This morning I saw a live hen lying immobile on the floor next to two dead hens. Later there were two more dead hens in the pile, and the live hen was in death throes, twitching and slightly convulsing.

While working on egg collection belts, I saw tiny insects covering the eggs and egg belts. When I pulled my hands away from the belts, there were dozens of insects on my hands and arms.

Saturday, 9/6/08

I saw a dead hen in a bottom cage with blood covering the floor below her. I saw that her organs were spilling out of her cavity, with fresh blood dripping from them.

Sunday, 9/7/08

I saw about five dead hens in cages throughout the day, two whose heads were lodged under their cages’ front walls and others who had fallen from their cages onto the egg belts.

I found a live hen with her body trapped under her cage’s front wall and draped over the egg belt with eggs backing up against her head. I picked up the hen and took her to a worker, saying, “She’s not dead.” The worker immediately grabbed the hen by the head and spun her in circles for several seconds before throwing her on the concrete floor, where she gasped, twitched her legs, and convulsed for nearly two minutes.

Monday, 9/8/08

I found a hen with her head and right wing under her cage’s front wall. Clear fluid was dripping from her beak tip onto the egg belt below her creating a pool of drool.

Wednesday, 9/10/08

I saw a hen with an entire side of her face swollen about half an inch out. Her left eye was almost swollen shut.

Thursday, 9/11/08

I saw another bird with an entire side of her face swollen about an inch out. The swelling pushed her skin out to the point where her left eye was only a slit.

Sunday, 9/14/08

There was a pool of blood about eight inches in diameter in a pile of feces below one of the cages. I also saw a hen whose rear abdomen was swollen and her cavity was covered in pus.

I found two crippled hens today. I took one out of her cage and saw that she was unable to fly, walk, or move at all, other than to kick one leg weakly. Her head and part of her right wing were under the front wall of her cage with eggs bumping against her head.

I found another crippled hen partially under the front wall of her cage. Her left leg was stretched out and partially on an egg belt, and her neck was bent around backwards and to the left so her beak was touching her abdomen.

Monday, 9/15/08

This morning I saw that one of the barns was empty of birds and about 10 kill carts and 45 carbon dioxide containers were in the room. One kill cart was about ¾ full of dead hens, who had died inhaling the acidic, pungent CO2 gas. A worker told me that the birds were killed after about 1 year and 8 months in cages.

Another worker told me that he had found a live hen in a cage he was cleaning. I told another worker about this hen and she explained that it was likely that the bird’s leg was caught in the cage wire and no one bothered to dislodge her. I asked her what we should do with the bird, and she said to leave her there until she died.

Sunday, 9/21/08

I found several injured and sick birds throughout the ranch. I discovered four hens that appeared lethargic, lying in cages motionless. One of the hens was being trampled by two other birds in her cage who were stepping on her body and head.

I found a hen with a hard, swollen abdomen. Her rear end was about twice the size of a normal hen’s, missing nearly all of its feathers, and covered in excrement.

I saw that one dead hen’s head was lying on the egg belt running below her cage.

Expert Opinions

Independent experts in bird welfare and veterinary medicine reviewed the video footage from MFA's undercover investigation of Norco Ranch. Below are some of their statements:

Nedim C. Buyukmihci, V.M.D.

Dr. Buyuckmihci is an Emeritus Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. He has over 34 years of experience, much of it involving farmed animals including chickens. Dr. Buyuckmihci states:

"The video I viewed depicted typical, although inappropriate, practices at battery facilities. Hens were crowded in wire cages so that the birds could not lie down or walk, spread their wings or rest without causing major disturbance to the rest of the birds in the cage. This demonstrated that cage size was insufficient for normal postural adjustments. The cages had wire floors, something that is known to cause injury to the hens' feet. Because there were tiers of cages, hens below each row of cages would be subjected to waste material from the hens above, something that is unhygienic. Some of the hens had badly damaged feathers, probably a consequence of the extreme crowding and lack of opportunity to properly maintain their plumage.
Many of the hens had what appeared to be serious injuries or other abnormalities to their vent areas. In some cases, this appeared to be due to tearing of the tissue or possibly cloacal rupture or prolapse. Some of the chickens may have been egg-bound. All these are painful conditions that would cause pain and suffering. Immediate veterinary intervention or euthanasia is necessary in order to minimize this. Because some of the conditions appeared to be relatively long-standing, it suggested that this was not being done.
Some of the hens had various swellings involving the head. From the video footage, the cause or
welfare implications could not be determined in most cases. In at least one, however, the lesion involved the right eye or orbital region. This appeared to be consistent with substantial inflammation and was likely painful, warranting immediate treatment or euthanasia.
All the hens appeared to have been subjected to “de-beaking” or “beak trimming,” which is done in an attempt to reduce injury caused by the hens picking at each other. The reason for the aggression, however, is largely due to the crowded conditions. The consequence for the hens in the video, typical for this type of mutilation, is that the beaks were malformed. This would make prehension of food very difficult. Preening, an important behavioral and health related activity, would be essentially impossible. In addition, because the beak is rich in nerves, the cutting of this tissue can result in neuromas. The latter are painful tumors caused by aberrant regrowth of the nervous tissue. This was evident in several of the birds in the video and probably was a source of constant discomfort.
There were several scenes in which a worker apparently attempted to kill chickens by twirling the body while holding onto the head. This is not a veterinary approved method of killing birds. Nor is such treatment likely to kill quickly in all cases and would cause considerable pain and suffering in the interim even if the bird eventually succumbed. The video footage showed several live birds, some conscious, on piles of what appeared to be dead birds. If the method of “killing” that I observed was routine, then seeing these living birds would not be surprising. Although it cannot be proven from the video footage, it is likely that many of these living birds were in pain.
Some birds were trapped by the cage structures so that they could not move. In addition to the stress and suffering caused by this type of restraint, these individuals would also not be able to get food or water. This would add to their suffering. Such situations demand immediate intervention.
A few crippled hens were shown lying outside the cages. These hens did not appear to have had access to water or food. If they were being left there for more than a few hours, this would result in further suffering for them. Euthanasia or removal to a location where they could get proper care would mitigate the negative welfare of the situation.
Many dead birds were shown in the cages. Some of these clearly had died days to weeks before, as evidenced by the state of decomposition or mummification of the bodies. There was no way to
determine from the video if the hens had died quickly or had experienced a slow and possibly painful death. It is feasible that some may have died of contagious conditions or have developed contagious opportunistic infestations during decomposition that could then have placed the other hens at risk. It is axiomatic that dead animals should be immediately removed from contact with living animals particularly under intense housing conditions such as battery cages in order to reduce the chance of contagion.
There is no question that the manner in which the chickens depicted in the video were treated was cruel by any normal definition of the word and resulted in suffering for the birds. The treatment of the hens violated norms of conduct with respect to animal welfare and veterinary care. None of this was necessary in order to pursue the purpose of the facility, which appeared to be the production of eggs. As such, it seems to me that this would constitute a violation of applicable animal cruelty laws."

Sara Shields, Ph.D.

Dr. Shields is an animal welfare scientist at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she teaches in the Animal Science department. Dr. Shields earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis, in the Animal Behavior program. There she worked with both broiler chickens and laying hens. She also worked in the Emergency Disease Program at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Dr. Shields states:

"It is clear that a few of the birds left in the piles of dead hens are still alive; some show slight body movements and shallow breathing, while others appear to be completely alert. Without access to feed, water, and veterinary attention, these birds are likely to suffer immensely while they slowly die."

"In addition to the hens with prolapsed oviducts, many of the hens in the video show signs of other medical conditions that would require immediate attention, veterinary diagnosis, and individualized care. Others have experienced poor beak trimming treatments, leaving them with permanent beak abnormalities."

"In addition to the injuries, ailments, and obvious suffering depicted, there is also a vast body of scientific knowledge providing ample evidence that battery cages, such as those in the video, are simply inappropriate environments for laying hens in the first place. Battery cages restrict natural hen behavior to such a degree that their ethological needs are frustrated, which may lead to distress and further suffering."

"Such conditions are deplorable and reform is desperately needed throughout the egg industry."

Christi Camblor, DVM

Dr. Camblor received her Bachelors of Science in Animal Biology and her doctorate in veterinary medicine at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Camblor states:

Several labeled clips were provided for my revision; Killing, Live Hens on Dead Piles, Sick/
Injured Hens, Trapped, Crowding and Death. Below I’ve listed a summary of the conditions
observed in each of the corresponding segments.
Killing
In this segment an unidentified worker is seen wringing the necks of hens and tossing them aside
onto the floor, where several other carcasses have already been tossed aside. There are several
examples shown wherein following the neck wringing the birds are clearly still alive, yet they are
thrown aside with the other dead hens. This footage illustrates that the technique used at this
facility is not consistently effective and is not a reliable, humane method of ensuring death in
these birds. The animals tossed aside while still alive have assuredly endured painful, severe
injuries as a result of the crude and imprecise method employed and, furthermore, are then left to linger and die slowly on their own.
Live Hens on Dead Piles
This portion shows multiple examples of live hens being found within heaps of dead carcasses.
The majority of these hens appear to be in dire condition, visibly crippled animals can be seen,
birds that appear to be demonstrating agonal breathing, birds so physically deteriorated they are barely able to lift their heads. Without question, leaving a live animal to die of its own recourses while surrounded in a mound of dead carcasses is an inhumane, unacceptable practice. The fact that these birds also clearly are suffering from physical injury adds to the cruelty demonstrated by this practice.
Sick/Injured Hens
This section of the film shows a variety examples of severely injured animals on the production
line. Birds are shown with prolapsed cloacas, facial and ocular abscesses, broken limbs, and
ulcerated, bloody genitivally. All of these conditions are painful, chronic health conditions that
left untreated lead to prolonged suffering and ill health. They also pose serious threats to the
sanitation of the product {in this case the egg} given the animals are often covered in blood,
feces, and purulent material as a result of some of these injuries and are then left amidst the other birds. Allowing these birds to endure these atrocious physical ailments without the benefit of medical attention or immediate euthanasia seriously infringes upon their welfare and constitutes abhorrent animal cruelty in my opinion.
Trapped
Birds in this portion of the film can be seen with various body parts trapped within the wire
confines of their cages. Most often heads and necks are trapped, but there are also clips wherein
the birds have their limbs trapped as well, along with entire torsos. These animals are left on the assembly line and can be seen being repeatedly bombarded with eggs as they pass along the
trough their heads and limbs are caught in. There is no evidence that there is any sort of recourse for these birds, who invariably must suffer broken limbs, appendages, and painful, repetitive injuries as a result of having gotten a part of themselves trapped within the battery cages.
Crowding
This section shows what appears to be typical, industry standard battery cage crowding wherein
birds are literally so crowded they are unable to stand, and as such must flop and crawl atop one
another. The intense crowding demonstrated on this portion of the film clearly impinges upon the welfare of these animals who are unable to perform even the most basic of acts, such as simply standing up, turning around, or stretching their wings.
Death
Numerous examples of dead animals are shown in cages of live hens. These conditions are
unsanitary and inhumane, as they demonstrate not only a level of care so poor animals are dying
on their own before pulling culled, but then are also left to rot amongst live animals who are
trapped within the confines of the same battery cage.
In closing, the overall conditions demonstrated within the video footage made available show
clear animal cruelty, undeniable inhumane treatment of the birds and egregious animal suffering.

Kate Hurley, DVM, MPVM

Dr. Hurley received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree Master’s degree in Preventive Veterinary Medicine from University of California, Davis. Dr. Hurley states:

"The images shown in the Mercy For Animals video of Norco ranch powerfully underscore the urgent need for Proposition 2, an initiative on the November ballot that would prevent the worst abuses associated with factory farming."

"The practices and conditions depicted in the Norco video do not reasonably fall anywhere within the bounds of acceptable herd health care."

"Battery cage systems can not provide humane conditions under the best of circumstances: suffering is inevitable when hens are so restricted that they can not take even a few steps or stretch their wings without running into wire cage walls or another bird. The Norco video starkly demonstrates that the suffering, injuries, disease and death associated with battery cage systems extend far beyond restriction of movement and prevention of normal behaviors."

Source: MFA

Debeaking Birds Has Got to Stop

Egg producers remove a portion of hens’ beaks with machinery, and without painkillers, to reduce the feather pecking that can occur in birds confined with no outlet for their normal foraging, dustbathing, and exploratory activities. Debeaked birds suffer acute and chronic pain in their beaks, heads and faces, because the nerves of the beak are connected to the nerves in the face and the brain which start to develop when the embryo is two days old. Debeaked birds cannot grasp their food efficiently, and they have trouble preening themselves and grooming the faces of their flock mates, which can cause them to appear to be “aggressive,” when all they are trying to do is remove bits of debris that a normal beak grasps easily.

Rough handling, yelling and being grabbed by the head, neck, tail or wing, as operators shove the birds’ faces up against and into the debeaking machinery, then pull the birds violently away and toss them into containers, causes broken bones, torn and twisted beaks and injuries to their delicate joints.

Photo by: East Bay Animal Advocates
"Free-range organic" young turkeys at Diestel Turkey Ranch with surgically mutilated beaks that will drop off leaving severely shortened upper beaks.

Background

In the 1920s, farmers began raising chickens indoors on wire floors. Crowded together with no opportunity to scratch, dustbathe, and explore, the birds started picking at each other. Instead of rectifying the environment, farmers chose beak mutilation. In the 1930s and ‘40s, a San Diego, California farmer named T.E. Wolfe used a gas torch to burn off part of the upper beaks of his hens. Later his neighbor adapted a soldering iron by giving it a chisel edge that enabled operators to apply downward pressure on the bird’s upper beak to sear and cauterize it. In 1942-1943, the San Diego company Lyon Electric developed and registered the first “Debeaker” machine. The company is still in business.

Chickens raised for meat are no longer debeaked because “meat-type” chickens are slaughtered as six-week old babies, before they are old enough to form a social order. By contrast, hens used to produce eggs for human consumption and roosters used for breeding in the egg and meat industries are debeaked between the ages of one-day-old and five months old. Likewise, turkeys, pheasants, quails, and guinea fowl are debeaked and ducks are debilled. So-called “free-range” and “cage-free” chickens and turkeys are usually debeaked at the hatchery as well.

Poultry producers used to deceive the public that a beak was as insensitive as the tip of a fingernail, but this assertion can no longer be made because decades of research have refuted it. Debeaking was fully explored by the Brambell Committee, a group of veterinarians and other experts appointed by the British Parliament to investigate welfare concerns arising from Ruth Harrison’s expose of factory farming – Harrison coined the term “factory farming” – in her book Animal Machines, published in 1964. In 1965, the Brambell Committee said “beak-trimming should be stopped immediately in caged birds and within two years for non-caged birds.”

The Committee explained: “The upper mandible of the bird consists of a thin layer of horn covering a bony structure of the same profile which extends to within a millimeter or so of the tip of the beak. Between the horn and bone [of the beak] is a thin layer of highly sensitive soft tissue, resembling the quick of the human nail. The hot knife blade used in debeaking cuts through this complex of horn, bone and sensitive tissue causing severe pain.”

Acute and Chronic Pain

In 1993, Ian Duncan, a poultry researcher at the University of Guelph in Ontario, said “there is now good morphological, neurophysiological, and behavioral evidence that beak trimming leads to both acute and chronic pain,” including phantom limb pain. Poultry producers use the term “beak tenderness” to describe conditions that prompt advice about the need for deep feed troughs to prevent the wounded beak from bumping the bottom of the trough resulting in starve-outs. Machine operators are reminded to do the “very tedious task” of beak trimming carefully, because “too often it is done carelessly” causing eyes to be “seared” and “blisters in the mouth.”

“Further Research”

Debeaking experiments are a worldwide enterprise. The 2005 book, Beak Trimming, edited by Philip C. Glatz, contains 27 pages of published experiments covering 40 years. (Countless other experiments have never been published.) Despite the “wealth of scientific information on the welfare of beak-trimmed birds, beak-trimming methods and alternatives to beak-trimming,” according to Beak Trimming, “there is a lack of comprehensive studies that measure the effect of beak-trimming on welfare using multiple indicators (physiological as well as behavioural) and it is hard to compare between studies due to different methods of beak-trimming and beak-trimming at different ages” (Glatz, p. 77). More research is “needed.” Etc. Etc.

Debeaking methods include the use of hot blades, cold blades, soldering irons, jackknives, pruning shears, dog nail clippers, liquid nitrogen used to “declaw emus,” machines consisting of “a hot plate and cutting bar operated by means of a foot lever,” robotic beak trimmers where chicks are loaded onto the robot by hand, with “holding cups around their heads,” chemical debeaking using capsaicin, “a cheap non toxic substance extracted from hot peppers that causes depletion of certain neuropeptides from sensory nerves in birds,” infrared beak treatment machines that cause the affected part of the beak to soften and “erode away,” and laser machines that cut the beak tissue with “intense emissions of light” and heat absorption.

The suffering of the birds subjected to these torturous surgeries is played down by many (not all) of the experimenters. For example, in one experiment, newborn chicks whose beaks were cut with an ophthalmic laser were said to “vocalize” in response to an increase in “energy density” indicating they were feeling “discomfort” when the laser failed to cut the inner bone of their beaks, seemingly “due to the lack of [electrical] power” (Glatz, p. 9).

A machine called a Bio-Beaker, developed in Millsboro, Delaware in the 1980s, uses a high voltage electrical current to burn a hole in the upper beak that’s supposed to cause it to fall off in about a week. The birds “struggle” as their beaks are shoved into the instrument and “struggle” again when the electricity is administered, and they often have to be debeaked a second time to correct a botched job and because young birds’ beaks can grow back. Used on turkeys, the Bio-Beaker is said to be “more successful” than with chickens, although “operator errors and inconsistencies have caused welfare problems for turkeys” . Perhaps the Bio-Beaker (or the laser machine) is responsible for the blackened, necrotic, crumbling beaks of baby turkeys photographed by investigators in recent visits to U.S. turkey farms.

For example, East Bay Animal Advocates (www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org) recently found horrible conditions at Diestel Turkey Ranch, a so-called “free range/organic” turkey farm in California and a supplier to Whole Foods Market, which claims to have “Animal Compassionate Standards.” The photo on page two shows young turkeys at Diestel with blackened necrotic beaks. Despite the exposure of Diestel, Whole Foods continues doing business with them.

In 1990  Michael Gentle and his associates at the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Edinburgh, Scotland, showed that experimentally debeaked chickens demonstrated chronic pain and suffering following the operation. Gentle explains: "The avian beak is a complex sensory organ which not only serves to grasp and manipulate food particles prior to ingestion, but is also used to manipulate non-food articles in nesting behavior and exploration, drinking, preening, and as a weapon in defensive and aggressive encounters. To enable the animal to perform this wide range of activities, the beak of the chicken has an extensive nerve supply with numerous mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, and nociceptors [ nerve endings sensitive to mechanical pressures, heat and pain]....Beak amputation results in extensive neuromas [tumors] being formed in the healed stump of the beak which give rise to abnormal spontaneous neural activity in the trigeminal [threefold] nerve. The nociceptors present in the beak of the chicken have similar properties to those found in mammalian skin and the neural activity arising from the trigeminal neuromas is similar to that reported in the rat, mouse, cat and the baboon. Therefore, in terms of the peripheral neural activity, partial beak amputation is likely to be a painful procedure leading not only to phantom and stump pain, but also to other characteristics of the hyperpathic syndrome, such as allodynia and hyperalgesia [the stress resulting from, and extreme sensitiveness to, painful stimuli]."

Gentle and associates compared 5 behaviors in 16 experimentally debeaked Leghorn hens with the same behaviors in a control (nondebeaked) group of hens: number of bill wipes, head shakes, drinking movements, pecks directed to water and floor, and pecks directed to cage sides. In their experiment, "Partial beak amputation produced a number of significant alterations to the behavior of the birds. The birds pecked less at the environment after amputation than before and this difference can be interpreted as guarding behavior of a painful area of the body, similar to that seen in man and other animals....Guarding behavior can also be used to explain the reduction in head shaking and beak wiping following amputation. Head shaking is a behavior commonly associated with feeding and drinking and, like beak wiping, it functions to remove food particles or irritant substances from the mouth or surface of the beak....The modifications in the pecking and drinking behavior of birds following partial beak amputation [conforms with other reports] that partial beak amputation results in long-term (56 weeks) increases in dozing and general inactivity, behaviors associated with long-term chronic pain and depression."

Source: UPC

Chickens Raised for Their Eggs

Between August 2001 and November 2004, members of the non-profit Ohio animal advocacy organization Mercy For Animals have conducted four undercover investigations of Ohio's largest egg factory farms.

At every facility investigated, MFA found severe overcrowding and confinement, countless sick and injured hens, hens who had become trapped in the wire of their cages, and dead birds left to slowly rot and decompose next to birds still producing eggs for human consumption.

The cruel conditions illustrated on this article are not isolated incidents. Sadly, similar abuses run rampant on factory farms across the country. The abuses stem from a system in which living, feeling animals are regarded as mere property, commodities to be exploited for every last penny.

The most important thing you can do to stop the suffering of these animals is to stop eating eggs and other animal products.

Confinement

Confinement at Buckeye

Confinement at Daylay

Hens confined to battery cages live day in and day out without ever seeing the sun. The ability to walk freely, fully stretch their wings, or dust bathe, become impossible tasks. The battery cage frustrates every natural instinct. These naturally clean animals are reduced to living in the excrement of their cage mates. Constant rubbing against the wire cages, and continuously being assaulted by the trampling of other hens, many hens become naked with feather loss. Each shed at Buckeye Egg Farm confines over 150,000 hens. Each cage is approximately 24 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 16 inches tall. With an average of eight hens per cage, each bird is allowed less than half a square foot of space, about 3/4 the area of a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper.

Similar conditions of confinement and crowding exist at Daylay egg farm in Raymond. The sheds investigated confined 140,000 to 250,000 birds. The cages measure 20 inches wide, 17 to 20 inches deep, and 17 inches tall.

After viewing the footage from Buckeye and Daylay, veterinarian Eric Dunayer, DVM stated:

"Each cage at the facility appears to contain at least eight hens. The hens are severely crowded--so crowded that wire floors of their cages are barely visible and the hens cannot move to another part of the cage without climbing over one another. The wire of the cage is caked with feces and feathers." "Probably due to abrasion against the wire of their cages, many of the hens have suffered severe feather damage including missing wing and tail feathers. Many have patches of bareskin with deep, bloody abrasions or small masses that might be abscesses."

Debeaking

At Buckeye Egg Farm, investigators found numerous birds that had been badly debeaked. Severe overcrowding reduces the hens to “cannibalistic” pecking. The egg industry combats this problem, not by giving the hens more space, but by taking a hot blade and cutting off part of the chicken’s beak. As the Farm Animal Welfare Council in Britain noted in one of its reports, debeaking "should not be necessary in a well-managed system where the hens' requirements are fully met."

Debeaking is an extremely painful process that is done without any pain killers. According to the Brambell Committee, a group of veterinarians and other experts appointed by the British Parliament:

“Between the horn and bone is a thin layer of highly sensitive soft tissue, resembling the quick of the human nail. The hot knife used in debeaking cuts through this complex of horn, bone and sensitive tissue causing severe pain.”

Likewise, poultry researcher, Dr. Ian Duncan notes, “there is now good morphological, neurophysiological, and behavioral evidence that beak trimming leads to both acute and chronic pain.”

Trapped Hens

At Buckeye Egg Farm and Daylay, numerous hens were discovered trapped and immobilized when their bodies become lodged underneath the feeding trays or caught in the wire of the cages. Once trapped, it is nearly impossible for the hens to free themselves. With no access to food or water, trapped hens are at great risk of dying slowly from starvation or dehydration.

This dying hen was trapped under the feeding tray.

This hen has her right wing stuck in the wires of the cage.

This hen has her body stuck underneath the feeding tray.

This hen's wing is caught it in the bars of the wire cages.

This hen died with her head lodged between two cages.

This hen has her wing trapped in the hooks on the cage.

Sick and Injured Hens

Sickness and disease are inherent problems in factory farms where birds are forced to live in filth and extreme confinement. In an attempt to minimize costs, and maximize profit, even the sickest of hens are denied veterinary care. Hens are left to die a slow, and often agonizingly painful, death from sickness and injury.

Forcing a naturally physical bird to spend her life in a cramped and stationary position causes numerous health problems such as: muscle degeneration, poor blood circulation, osteoprosis, and foot and leg deformities.

Numerous other health problems plague hens on factory farms. At Buckeye and Daylay, investigators found birds suffering from raging eye and sinus infections, mechanical feather damage, pasturela, paralysis, vitamin deficiency, enlarged vents, wing hemetones, and blindness.

After reviewing footage from the investigation, Elliot M. Katz, DVM stated:

"It is outrageous that the operators neglect hens who are suffering so horribly from acute and chronic eye infections and injuries to the eyes -- one of the most painful of all areas of the body when afflicted. With eye injuries such as these, the failure to provide appropriate treatment and veterinary care is the height of irresponsibility."

The Manure Pits

The Manure Pits at Daylay

The Manure Pits at Buckeye

Below the cages, mounds of feces stretch as far as the eye can see. At both Buckeye and Daylay, massive cobwebs engulf the walls and ceilings, the manure crawls with maggots, beetles, and other insects. Flies swarm everywhere.

The high emission of ammonia created contributes to the spread of disease and infection for the hens above. This toxic ammonia rises from the decomposing uric acid in the manure pits beneath the cages to produce a painful corneal ulcer condition in the chickens. This is known as "ammonia burn," a condition that often leads to blindness. It often facilitates chronic respiratory diseases such as infectious bronchitis, caused by airborne virus.

At Buckeye Egg Farm and Daylay egg farm, hens that had managed to escape their cages would often fall to the manure pits below, where they become trapped. At both farms, hens in the manure pits had no apparent source of drinking water. Many had insects crawling over their weakened bodies.

At Daylay, investigators found a hen trapped, with half her body buried in wet manure.

Investigators found many birds who had died here, in various forms of decomposition.

Death

Premature death is a common occurrence on factory farms. Many hens meet a cruel and prolonged death when their bodies become lodged underneath the feeding trays or trapped in the wire of the cages. With no escape, these hens must endure the constant physical assault of being trampled by the other hens. Other hens succumb to untreated sickness, disease, or injures.

Numerous dead birds are overlooked by management, who have neither the time nor inclination to remove the corpses. At both Buckeye Egg Farm and Daylay, severely decomposed hens were discovered in cages with live hens. The hens were left to slowly rot and decompose in their cages. Their cage mates are forced to live with the stench this creates.
Factory farms treat the hens’ lives as mere commodities, to be disposed of once they are no longer useful. At Daylay, a live hen was found in a dumpster filled with trash and hundreds of dead birds.

Once a hen’s egg production declines, they are sent to the slaughterhouse or disposed of by other means. Chickens are exempt from the Humane Slaughter Act and many hens have their necks cut while fully conscious. Some birds will enter the scalding tank alive. This is so common that the industry has a name for these birds—“redskins”.

Furthermore, for every egg laying hen confined in a battery cage, there is a male chick who was killed at the hatchery. Because egg laying breeds don't grow fast enough or large enough to be raised profitably for meat, the male chicks are of no economic value. They are disposed of at birth- usually by the least expensive and most convenient means available. They may be thrown into grinders, where they will be ground up alive, or discarded into trash cans.

One week after finding a live bird thrown in the dumpster, investigators went back to see if there were any more live birds left here. All they found were maggots and dead hens.

Rescued!

On September 8th and 9th, Mercy For Animals openly rescued a total of 34 sick and injured birds from Daylay in Raymond, Ohio and Buckeye Egg Farm in La Rue, Ohio. The rescued hens were immediately taken to an avian specialist to receive emergency veterinary care.

All 34 hens were diagnosed as carrying the disease pasturella and were treated for 10 days with penicillin. Eleven hens underwent sinus surgery. Two blind hens had to have their eyes drained. Two had acute vitamin deficiencies and received injections. One hen suffers from paralysis in her leg and will be paralyzed for life. Many hens were diagnosed with mechanical feather damage, wing hemetones, and severe feather loss, among other things. One hen was suffering from a hernia and another from a painful condition known as vent peritonitis.

Sadly, three of the hens had been so badly neglected by the egg farms that even after receiving veterinary care, they were unable to recover and died.

All of the surviving hens are now living at a farm sanctuary. They are recovering miraculously. Their scars are healing and their white feathers are returning. The girls will be able to live out the rest of their lives in a natural environment where they are able to walk around freely, dust bathe, perch, and socialize with their new friends. They are the few lucky ones, free of the torture and suffering of battery cages.

Open Rescues

Open Rescues are a new tactic being used in the United States by animal rights advocates. They have been used successfully in Australia for over 20 years and have only recently began in the U.S. by groups such as Compassion Over Killing, Compassionate Action for Animals, and now Mercy For Animals.

An “open rescue” is essentially the act of rescuing animals that are in dire need of veterinary care and taking full responsibility for those actions.

Because Mercy For Animals feels that what they are doing is the right thing to do, they choose not to wear masks to hide their identities. They are speaking out openly about the atrocities they found, and they are willing to accept the consequences of their actions. They conducted their investigation and rescue in a peaceful way and adhered to the principles of non-violence. Furthermore, they did not damage or destroy any property and only rescued hens in dire need of veterinary care.

They believe that by taking a non-violent and open approach, in the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., we will be able to build a society based on love and compassion for all sentient beings.

One of the rescued hens

Annie

Investigators bathe a rescued hen.

Investigators rescue a hen.

Investigator Nathan Runkle comforts one of the rescued hens.

Investigators give a hen some water.

This rescued hen dries off after a warm bath.

Rescue Report for Cecilia, written by investigator Amie Hafner

When I first saw Cecilia, she was lying in the front of her cage as eight other cage mates, crammed into the same small cage, trampled her weak body. They spent their entire lives standing on that filthy wire floor and their long dirty nails were scraping into her bare featherless back. It had been happening for a long time. I could tell by the scars on her skin, the scabs, and the infected growths on her wings. She was sick and weak. Her body was unbelievably small, despite the fact that she was a full-grown hen.

I ever so carefully remove her from her cage. When I lifted her into my arms, she did not resist. She did not struggle or flap her wings or kick her legs. She looked as if she had given up. This was probably the first time in her life since she was debeaked and crammed into the cage as a chick, that she had been held by a human or had left her cage, but she didn’t seem to be afraid. Her legs were hanging limp. I tried to sit her on the floor to see if she could walk, but her legs simply collapsed beneath her small body.

She was unable to reach the water tube in the back of her cage from where she had been lying, and was probably severely dehydrated. We have her water and she seemed to perk up a little bit. She appeared to be getting back her will to live. She still couldn’t walk and was in obvious need of veterinary care.

We rescued her and took her to an avian specialist where she was later diagnosed as having paralysis of her left leg. She will never be able to use that leg again, but she was able to pull herself around on her other leg once she regained her strength. She was also diagnosed with severe wing hemetone from the sores, but that will heal. She tested positive for pasturella and received penicillin.

Cecilia is now recovering and is enjoying a happy and fulfilling life at the sanctuary.

Rescue Report for Lucy, written by investigator Amie Hafner

When I first entered one of the sheds at Buckeye Egg Farm and glanced down the first dark row of battery cages, I noticed something on the floor. When I pointed my light in that direction, I saw what appeared to be a dead hen lying in a pool of her own feces. She had escaped from the confines of her cage and was left without any access to water. Her body was small, featherless, and limp. Her comb was colorless. I bent down to pick up her lifeless body and realized that she was still warm and she began to move slightly when I touched her. I was horrified to discover that she was still alive. I immediately carried her to the end of the row, held her on my lap, and offered her water. She was to weak to lift her head up on her own, so I gently dribbled some water down her beak with a dropper. Her pale eyes slowly opened and she began to drink. She was severely dehydrated and had acute diarrhea. Seeing her accept the water gave me hope that she may make it out of this living hell alive. She was covered in her own wet feces and the smell of death clung to her body.

We carried her out of the shed and cared for her. The following morning, she died. We will miss Lucy. She’s just one of the countless victims of the egg industry. At least she received love and care as she spent her last hours wrapped in a warm blanket, breathing fresh air, instead of dying alone in her own excrement on the cold, hard, dirty floor of Buckeye Egg Farm.

Every day, thousands of hens are left to die from disease or sent to the slaughterhouse only to be killed and ground up for whatever meat is left on their poor sick bodies.

Rescue Report for Roxy, written by investigator Amie Hafner

When I first noticed Roxy, she was sticking her neck through the bars of her cage like all of the thousands of other hens. But something was different—I couldn’t see her eye. She had a large mass growing on her face. It was so large, in fact, that it had taken over the entire side of her face, including her eye. I slowly opened the door to the tiny cage. There were so many other hens living in the same cage as her and they were all trying to get out of the opened door. It was so hard to just take her out and close the door on all of the other suffering animals with their sad little eyes looking up at me. She cried out in fear, her voice muffled by all of the other sounds of fear in this hot, loud factory. She began to calm down as I caressed her. This was the first she had ever been treated with compassion by a human. I felt that she was beginning to trust me.

We rescued her that night and took her to a vet for treatment. The abscess on her face had started as a sinus infection, but had continued to grow and take over her face due to the filthy living conditions found in “modern” factory farms.

Her story is not an uncommon one. We encountered numerous hens with raging sinus infections, all of which will continue to get worse, the vet informed us, if left untreated. As the egg factories do not offer veterinary care to the hens confined there, we had no choice but to take her with us and get her help.

The following day, she was put under general anesthesia and the avian specialist performed surgery to remove the mass. She was put on antibiotics and brought home with me to heal.

Her recovery was amazing. When she was first placed in the soft straw she stretched her wings and the sunlight coming in from the window covered her featherless body. This was probably the first time that she had ever fully stretched her wings or had left the sun’s warmth. She was finally free. She began to eat well and especially enjoyed snacking on grapes. We gave her a nice warm bath to remove the dried manure and filth attached to her few remaining brittle feathers. Afterward, she began to preen herself.

Roxy is now living at a fabulous farm sanctuary where she will able to live out the rest of her life free and happy in the company of her fellow rescued friends.

Source: Mercy For Animals