In 2004, a team of investigators from Compassionate Consumers visited Wegmans Egg Farm in Wolcott, NY. The facility is the largest of its kind in New York State, housing 750,000 egg-laying hens. Investigators found hens subjected to egregiously inhumane conditions much like those documented at other large-scale egg farms across the United States.

CONFINEMENT
At Wegmans Egg Farm hens spend their entire lives in barren, wire cages called battery cages. Battery cages allow each chicken a floor space no bigger than a 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Crowded conditions make it impossible for these animals to act out even their most basic natural behaviors. They cannot properly spread their wings, perch, dust-bathe or preen their feathers. Hens at Wegmans Egg Farm constantly stand on a wire mesh floor and barely have enough room to walk.

Housing chickens in this way is industry standard. Even though Wegmans claims to surpass this industry standard, it is simply not possible to house chickens humanely in battery cages. Battery cages have already been banned in the European Union. Unfortunately, in the U.S. there are few laws protecting farmed animals and even less protecting chickens and other birds. So it is up to the egg industry to regulate themself. And it is up to consumers to stop the cruel use of battery cages.

ILLNESS & INJURY With less than 60 employees overseeing the 750,000 animals at Wegmans Egg Farm it is no wonder that individual birds are overlooked. Therefore, sick, injured and trapped hens are commonplace at large corporate egg farms like Wegmans. Trapped hens are unable to reach food or water, are trampled by cage-mates, and often die slowly of dehydration, strangulation or injury. Sick and injured hens are denied even the most basic veterinary care and are left to die.

DEATH & CORPSES
Sick, injured and trapped hens often die in their cages. Investigators found countless dead hens in many of the cages. These corpses were in various states of decay, many becoming a mess that has fused to the wire cage floor. Others become nothing but bones and feathers. Living hens are forced to live on these rotting corpses.