Practical Issues > Factory Farm - Index > Chickens

Nearly fifteen months after uncovering unspeakable cruelty at Ohio’s largest egg factory farms, Mercy For Animals investigators have again gone undercover behind closed doors to shed light on the inherent cruelties of battery cage facilities. The investigation began in December, 2002 after Weaver Brothers Egg Farm, located in Versailles, Ohio, failed to respond to a certified letter requesting a tour and expressing concern over the farm's treatment of hens. Following stringent industry-guideline biosecurity measures, and armed with video and photo equipment, MFA investigators made nighttime visits to the factory documenting case after case of animal neglect and abuse.

The findings of this investigation are, sadly, all too common. In the past two years, seven undercover investigation at egg farms in Ohio, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Jersey have uncovered the following:

• Hens with broken, damaged, and feces-covered feathers packed into tiny wire battery cages so small they cannot even spread their wings.
• Hens suffering from huge, untreated growths and infections.
• Hens who had become completely immobilized without access to water when their wings/head/neck/or feathers became trapped in the wire of the cage.
• Dead hens left to decompose in cages with live hens who are still producing eggs for human consumption.
• Hens who had escaped their cages, wandering in manure pits, with no access to water.
• Live hens thrown away in trash bins or dumpsters, left to die amidst carcasses.

MFA’s recent investigation at Weaver Brothers Egg Farm has again exposed such abuses. The previous facilities investigated are not the “bad apples” or the “exceptions”, but rather the cruelties uncovered are accepted industry practices.

Ending institutionalized animal abuse is as simple as making humane and compassionate food choices. Adopting a vegan diet is a healthy and powerful way of taking a stand against farmed animal abuse.

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