Hens confined to battery cages live day in and day out without ever seeing the sun. The ability to walk freely, fully stretch their wings, or dust bathe, become impossible tasks. The battery cage frustrates every natural instinct.

These naturally clean animals are reduced to living in the excrement of their cage mates.

Constant rubbing against the wire cages, and continuously being assaulted by the trampling of other hens, many hens become naked with feather loss.

Each shed at Buckeye Egg Farm confines over 150,000 hens. Each cage is approximately 24 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 16 inches tall. With an average of eight hens per cage, each bird is allowed less than half a square foot of space, about 3/4 the area of a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper.

Similar conditions of confinement and crowding exist at Daylay egg farm in Raymond. The sheds investigated confined 140,000 to 250,000 birds. The cages measure 20 inches wide, 17 to 20 inches deep, and 17 inches tall.

After viewing the footage from Buckeye and Daylay, veterinarian Eric Dunayer, DVM stated:

"Each cage at the facility appears to contain at least eight hens. The hens are severely crowded--so crowded that wire floors of their cages are barely visible and the hens cannot move to another part of the cage without climbing over one another. The wire of the cage is caked with feces and feathers."

"Probably due to abrasion against the wire of their cages, many of the hens have suffered severe feather damage including missing wing and tail feathers. Many have patches of bareskin with deep, bloody abrasions or small masses that might be abscesses."