Shocking Undercover Footage Shows Free Range Chickens Laying Eggs Next To Corpses

WARNING: GRAPHIC AND UPSETTING PICTURES AND VIDEOS

Shocking footage paints a very detailed picture of the conditions that chickens were living in at a free range farm in East Sussex:

Hoads Farm is currently suspended after RSPCA intervened when Direct Action Everywhere's footage was posted to social media.

Hoads Farm supplies eggs to Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA and Morrisons for around £2 ($2.60) for a box of six. Eggs from Hoads Farm will not be sold by Tesco or Sainsbury's until the investigations are completed.

On the website, Hoads Farm claim the company remains 'relatively unique' in that they 'have never compromised [their] values'.

The site continues: "It is these values for animal welfare, high quality standards and sustainability that underpin how the business is run to this day."

Hoads Farm

Facebook/DxE Brighton

Activists stormed the farm on Monday morning after the video was posted. They sat inside the enclosures wearing protective clothing, carried 50 birds out of the farm and demanded action from the authorities.

According to DxE, the floor was 'swimming with rotting egg fluids' and around 32,000 hens were packed into multi-storey metal rows 'at a density of 13 hens per square metre'.

They went on: "Many of the hen's cloacae, from which their eggs are laid, were visibly infected and raw from forced overproduction.

"Hoads has said that they collect their dead birds every day and dispose of them properly but we visited many times over the months and saw the same bodies decomposing."

In a statement to LADbible, RSPCA Assured said: "We are shocked and appalled by this video and understand why people are upset.

"Any allegations of poor welfare issues on RSPCA Assured certified farms are taken extremely seriously, which is why we have suspended the farm whilst we urgently investigate."

A Tesco spokesperson said: "These are deeply disturbing and unacceptable images. We expect all brands sold at Tesco to uphold high animal welfare standards and will closely review the results of the investigations into this farm."

A Sainsbury's spokesperson also said: "The welfare of our animals is extremely important and we are investigating these allegations."

LADbible has also contacted Morrisons and ASDA for comment, as well as Hoads Farm.

Topics: UK News, News, Animals

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

@RJShepherd94