INVESTIGATION The Egg Industry’s Cruel Practice of Forced Molting
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Animal Equality has just released a new investigation into the forced fasting of hens to increase their egg protection, a cruel practice called “forced molting.” The investigation took place in Mexico’s top egg-producing state, Jalisco. In concert with this investigation, we’ve presented an initiative in the Congress of Jalisco that calls for a ban on forced molting.
THE DETAILS: Forced molting deprives hens of water and food for 7-14 days, during which the hens will lose their feathers and stop laying eggs in order to accelerate a new cycle of egg production. This is done so that the hens can be used for a longer period of time so that more income is generated for the producer, which reduces the costs of mass egg production. At the end of the forced fast, many hens will have died. Those that remain will have lost up to 30% of their body weight before they resume egglaying that meets the industry’s expectations.
WHAT WE FOUND: Our investigators documented the following:
- Hens with inflammation of the cloaca, with the presence of pus and blood
- Dirty plumage and skin problems
- Hens with badly cut beaks, and damaged and malformed legs
- An area of the farm where dying birds are abandoned without veterinary attention
- Hens with common symptoms of stress such as vocalization, dilated pupils, flight behaviors, and in-fighting
- Dead, decaying chickens, amongst the living
- Up to 6 chickens into a cage, with their limbs stuck between the bars
- Insufficient ventilation, without access to natural light or direct sun
- Poor sanitary conditions in and around the farm
- Workers who do not comply with safety and hygiene measures
- Rusty and dirty cages in poor condition
FORCED MOLTING: A fast for 7-14 days means more than just the loss of the hens’ feathers. The practice also causes bone demineralization, which aggravates leg injuries and diseases caused by living in cages. Dehydration and the extreme stress of the fast leads to immunosuppression, which causes Salmonella enteritidis, E Coli, and other latent diseases such as avian flu. Many suffer from dermatitis, and the feather loss aids in ammonia burns which occur from the hen’s unchanged litter.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: “Consumers have the right to know how the food they consume is produced, as well as how animals exploited for the egg industry are treated. The evidence Animal Equality uncovered shows the cruelty of the industry and the suffering forced molting causes hens. It’s time to end the practice for good,“ said Dulce Ramírez, Executive Director of Animal Equality Mexico.
THE INITIATIVE: The bill presented to the Congress of Jalisco Congress—the first of its kind to include a chapter on farmed animal welfare in the State Animal Care and Protection Law—is widely supported by local public opinion and includes provisions that:
- Provide welfare to all animals intended for supply or consumption without making distinctions or exclusions
- Prohibits forced molting through the deprivation of food and water in chickens used for egg production
- Defines cage-free systems and regulations for their use
- Urges the creation of the Official Mexican Standard for the production of cage-free Eggs;
- Seek a greater professionalization of the handling of animals by specifying that only registered operators while in the presence of a veterinarian can perform painful interventions
WHAT COMES NEXT: Forced molting has been banned in areas around the world, including the European Union and India. It’s time Mexico follows suit. We are working tirelessly to make this happen and will continue to expose the cruelty of the industry until changes are made. To make this happen we need your help. Please use your voice to share the truth about this common practice that happens not only in Mexico but also in the United States. And please, leave animals off your plate.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EGG INDUSTRY: https://animalequality.org/issues/eggs/
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Transcript (English — en)
In Mexico’s eggs industry,
hens suffer unimaginable abuse.
It's even worse for those
who are sick or injured.
These animals are discarded
just like trash, or sent to slaughterhouses
to be turned into
sausage ingredients or animal feed.
In addition to the diseases and stress caused
by lifelong confinement in cages,
in Mexico, there is another cruel
and unregulated practice
that causes hens great suffering.
Forced molting subjects hens to seven
to 14 days of fasting
to accelerate their egg-laying cycle,
allowing more eggs to be produced
in a shorter, unnatural timeframe,
while also causing weight
and feather loss.
Forced molting is used after a year
of exploitation on the egg farm,
and in that time
the hens will suffer from infections,
skin issues, and leg deformities.
We were also able to see hens showing
signs of stress, such as constant clucking
and aggression towards each other.
Hens are curious and sociable,
and living in an environment
that does not offer any natural
stimuli negatively impacts
their well-being and causes
stress induced illnesses and behavior.
When their productivity drops,
hens are subjected to forced
molting to accelerate their second
egg-laying cycle.
When forced to fast,
hunger keeps the hens anxious
and insistently pecking at empty feeders
or searching for food in their own waste.
By then, their health has deteriorated.
This cruel fasting causes them to lose
feathers rapidly,
leaving their bodies unprotected
from temperature changes, bacteria, dust
and ammonia, which burns their skin.
For these sensitive animals,
fasting is even harder to bear
when confined to cages,
which make it impossible
for them to rest properly
as the hours pass,
painfully and uncomfortably.
The clucking of more than 100,000 hens
in each shed never stops,
and they are surrounded
by the bodies of dead hens above,
below and on the sides of the cages.
The handling of the birds
by the workers is brutal.
In our footage, workers act
without compassion towards hens
that are injured or stuck in cages.
Injured or sick hens are forgotten among thousands
of others in the Abandonment Zone,
where they agonize and die alone.
60 feet from one of the farms,
we found a large pit full of decomposing
bodies of hens and other animals
rotting in the sun for days,
contaminating the soil and air,
and creating the possibility of infection
for the workers,
the birds and the local fauna
that feed on the carcasses.
After the hens complete
their second egg cycle,
their bodies are sapped
of their last strength.
The birds, who can live 8 years or more,
are only 3 years
when they are discarded as waste.
The end for them is just the beginning
for a new flock of hens
who will refill the cages
and restart this cycle
of deprivation, pain and death.
Up to a third of the hens that are
subjected to forced molting will die.
And in Mexico, millions
are raised in cages
that exacerbate the consequences
of this cruel practice.
Most people are unaware that the eggs
they consume on a daily
basis are produced in this system,
which causes the most animal
suffering in all of industrial
animal agriculture.
Hens deserve compassion, which is why
we have presented an unprecedented
initiative in Jalisco, Mexico
that, if passed, would for the first time
protect the welfare of hens.
We have also launched a petition
in the country calling for a ban on forced
molting and for the end of cages
in Mexico's egg production.
You can make a difference for chickens.