Exposed: Hens suffering at RSPCA Assured free-range farms

Our latest investigation, targeting the highest so-called ‘welfare’ that the British egg industry has to offer, has launched in the Mirror Online, and in print, to an audience of 32 million!

For our third instalment of Rotten, our exposé into the British egg industry, we infiltrated multiple farms associated with Directors at the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA), whose farmers produce 70% of the nation's free-range eggs.

All of the farms featured in our investigation are RSPCA Assured, and between them, supply eggs to major supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Aldi, as well as to companies James Potter Eggs and Stonegate who supply eggs to supermarkets including Tesco, Co-op and Asda.

What we uncovered is the stuff of nightmares.

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We visited three farms associated with BFREPA Directors:

1. Harper Farm in Leeds owned by Jack Stephenson

2. Sherriff’s Wood Eggs, the family farm of Pauline Jones

3. Gwash Valley Farm, Rectory Farm and Hill Farm, family farms of Lucy Hinch

Across the farms our investigation revealed:

Bullying, feather pecking and cannibalism

We uncovered many hens suffering with severe feather loss, often caused by aggressive feather pecking. One hen was filmed being attacked by other hens over three hours, crying out in pain, until she collapsed and died on the shed floor.

Illness, injury and distress

Hens were filmed suffering with illness and injuries at multiple farms. Many hens suffered with bloody prolapses and several had injuries to their feet and necks. Multiple hens were suspected to be egg bound, a painful and often lethal condition where an unlaid egg gets stuck in the egg duct. Others were laying almost lifeless on the shed floor with no one coming to help.

Death and decay

Dead birds littered the floors of these three RSPCA Assured ‘high-welfare’ farms. Some looked like they’d been left to decompose for days or even weeks. Hens pecked at and walked on the bodies of their barn-mates. We uncovered dead bodies thrown into freezers and chucked into bin bags like pieces of rubbish. Dozens of black bin bags were piled high at one farm.

Cramped, crowded and filthy

Hens were packed in up to 16,000 to one shed – 9 hens per square metre which is the equivalent of 14 adults sharing a one-room flat! Filth and excrement dripped off their perches and ‘enrichment’, mandated by law to encourage ‘natural’ behaviours, amounted to plastic bottles and discarded egg trays.

“The footage from RSPCA Assured free-range egg farms showed widespread suffering among laying hens, with serious health issues and high mortality rates due to inadequate care and barren environments. Chronic stress led to feather pecking and prolonged attacks on subordinate birds, causing significant suffering and death across the farms.”  - Andrew Knight, Veterinary Professor of Animal Welfare, University of Winchester

Hens trapped inside

Despite government and RSPCA Assured guidelines stating that free-range hens must have ‘continuous daytime access to outside runs’, we documented no hens being let outside at all.

Although there were no bird flu restrictions in the area at the time, or within the last few months, on all farms, we filmed empty ranges and popholes that had been unopened for as many as four days.

Is this the kind of ‘free’ that free-range marketing shows you?

Cage-free Isn't Cruelty-free

This year, we are cracking open the cage-free myth with our 'Cage-free Isn’t Cruelty-free' campaign. Over the coming months, we will shine a light on the Rotten reality for cage-free hens in the UK ahead of major UK supermarkets committing to go cage-free on their eggs by 2025.  

It’s time to look past the misleading marketing that shows hens happily roaming around in open fields and expose cage-free as the ‘high-welfare’ lie that it is.

As always,

For the animals.