When we hear the term "cage-free eggs," we think of a more humane way to raise hens and collect eggs. Cage-free egg farms are the answer to much public distaste for "battery-cage egg" farms which are when hens are kept in very small cages to live and lay their eggs.
A hen should be able to spread their wings, nest, perch themselves in places, and dust-bathe. These are all natural habits that hens in cages are not afforded. In relations to cage-free egg farms, hens are able to spread their wings and move freely about. However, not everything about this new method is as good as we perceive it to be. These hens are still unable to go outside and the hen house is sometimes filled with thousands of hens, often cramped and unclean.
The darkness that is cage-free egg farms doesn't end there. An investigation by Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and published by the Huffington Post, has uncovered something much more gruesome. The investigator began by saying he heard screaming and thought there were children in the hen house. Horrifically enough, it was the hens. They have become cannibal. Yes, cannibal. A recent study by the Coalition For Sustainable Egg Supply showed that cannibalism rates in cage-free hen houses is increasing by around 3000% (three-thousand percent). Being stuck inside their enclosures their whole life, overcrowded, the hens are driven insane. They target the cloaco (equivalent to a human vagina) because "it is soft, fleshy, and covered with egg fluids." The animals will attack these weak points sometimes pulling out organs in the process.
The investigator told the Huffington Post that at a Costco farm, he watched a hen covered in blood, unable to walk, dragging herself across manure piles in a "desperate" attempt to flee her attackers. This hen, like many others did not make it.
Regardless of your choice between cage-free and battery-cage eggs, both options are not even close to humane.
Spread the awareness with the hashtag #CannibalismAtCostco
Below is the video evidence on the Costco cage-free egg farm.
Viewer discretion is advised. The video contains graphic images of injured and deceased chickens. Some may find this video disturbing.
