Last month we uncovered abysmal conditions and untold suffering at three RSPCA Assured farms supplying major UK supermarkets and associated with the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA). The media coverage has been seen by hundreds of thousands — in 5 major newspapers, a dozen other online publications and on TV and radio. We sent ripples throughout the industry, leading RSPCA to suspend all three farms and permanently remove Harper Farm in Leeds. 

Now we’re back to expose four more farms, two that supply brands that claim to be ‘market leaders’ and go ‘above and beyond’ in terms of animal welfare, as seen in the Independent.

Are their ‘higher welfare’ claims all they’re cracked up to be? 

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Farm 1: Glenrath Farms, Scotland 

Director: Karen Campbell

The UK’s leading free-range egg supplier

Glenrath Farms, run by BFREPA Director, Karen Campbell, supplies over one million eggs a day to major supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda. Karen has even won an award for her 'outstanding contribution to the Scottish poultry industry’ but the Rotten truth at her farms was far from award-winning. 

Amongst sickness, injuries and debeaked hens, we found dead hens’ dead bodies scattered in the deep filth of the shed floors. These hens appeared to have had their necks snapped and been discarded on the filthy floor.

Despite the fact that free-range hens are supposed to have continuous daytime access to the outside, we filmed hens not being let outside on four separate days

Farm 2: Home Farm, Lincolnshire

Director: Tim Bradley 

An ‘M&S Select Farm’ supplying Marks and Spencer 

Marks and Spencer boast that they have the ‘highest standards of animal welfare in the market’.

Do these look like ‘the highest standards of animal welfare’? This farm was RSPCA Assured at the time of filming and has since been suspended by M&S.

Hens were trapped in the metal slats of the shed floors. Some had their wings stuck, unable to free themselves and another had her foot trapped and was hanging upside down by one leg with panic in her eyes. 

We found hens collapsed, some were suffering with injuries such as suspected prolapsed cloacas, feather loss and very overgrown nails making it difficult to walk. Others were laying face down in the dirt, surrounded by the bodies of those who had died before them.

Is this what they call ‘M&S Quality’? 

Farm 3: Hockerwood Park, Nottinghamshire 

Director: Patrick Lynn 

A key supplier to Happy Egg 

Patrick Lynn was a BFREPA Director until November 2023 and his farm supplies Tesco, via the famous ‘Happy Egg’ brand. 

Happy Egg says "“The happiness of our girls always comes first. We work closely alongside our farmers to continually raise the standards when it comes to keeping our girls happy, safe and well cared for.”

Does this hen look happy to you? 

Hens at Hockerwood Park were in misery. Some were filmed with suspected infected prolapsed cloacas and what looked like a broken wing; others had deformed beaks from debeaking. The shed floor was piled high with faeces and dead hens were left to decompose on the metal slatted tiers.

The ‘well deserved enrichment’ they boast about was nothing more than a plastic water bottle and a watering can tied to the metal tiers with a piece of string. Outside, our drone filmed muddy, barren fields with barely any hens in.

Farm 4: Ratford Farm, Wales 

Director: Scott Bailey

A small local and wholesale farm 

BFREPA Director Scott Bailey’s farm supplies eggs locally direct from his farm gate and wholesale across Pembrokeshire. Despite being a small, local farm, the scenes were similarly horrific. This farm has since been suspended by RSPCA Assured.

We filmed extreme crowding, leaving these hens little room to move. Dead hens were left rotting on the slatted floors whilst others stepped over them. Several birds pecked at the wing of a recently deceased hen in their feeder. One hen was filmed hunched over with a twisted neck, whilst another was suffering from a suspected infection and diarrhea.  

"Numerous hens evidenced serious illness and injuries, that appeared untreated. These included infected, prolapsed cloacas, wings that appeared to be broken, extreme mite/lice infestations, an infected chest mass, lameness and swollen feet, splayed legs, and twisted necks and beaks. Many dead hens were visible, with bodies left among living hens on shelves and flooring. One dead body was even visible within a grain trough from which live hens were feeding.

Andrew Knight, Veterinary Professor of Animal Welfare

Cracking open the cage-free myth

Over our past three ‘Rotten’ investigations we have exposed suffering, misery and neglect at cage-free farms that masquerade as ‘high-welfare’. We have laid bare the stark difference between the marketing propaganda of happy free-range hens in fields and the grim reality of thousands of hens crammed in sheds suffering, only to be killed at a fraction of their natural lifespan. 

We have exposed that cage-free definitely ISN’T cruelty-free and the only meaningful protection we can offer hens is to stop eating eggs and choose vegan.

As always,

For the animals