Egg farm civil settlement did lead to healthier birds, according to managers

Dr. Charles Hofacre, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Georgia, examines a chicken at the Maine Contract Farming egg farm in Turner on Thursday. The egg farm uses Hofacre's services to monitor the health of the laying hens.

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- Jose Leiva/Sun Journal

Egg-producing chickens sit in a cage at the Maine Contract Farming egg farm in Turner.

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- Jose Leiva/Sun Journal

A veterinarian and an entomologist conduct a tour of the egg-producing poultry barns for the media at Maine Contract Farming in Turner on Thursday.

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- Jose Leiva/Sun Journal

TURNER — Dr. Charles Hofacre slides open part of the cage directly in front of him, and the four chickens inside try to scatter. Reaching in, he plucks out a single bird for inspection.

"See, she's a healthy, alert bird," Hofacre says. "Good muscle tone, good feathers."

The bird is one of the millions under his care at the Turner-based Maine Contract Farming, part of a civil settlement with the state of Maine announced last month.

Hofacre, director of Clinical Services at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine, specializes in poultry health. Maine Contract Farming, formerly DeCoster Egg Farms, has hired him and Maxcy Nolan III, a South Carolina-based poultry entomologist, to monitor its flock.

Nolan said he has concentrated on refining the egg farm's pest control program, cutting down on mouse, fly and beetle infestations.

Hofacre has concentrated on bird health — getting them on a better vaccination regimen and adjusting their diet.

"What they eat hasn't changed," Hofacre said. The birds have always been fed a mix of soy protein and corn for energy.

"The balances were all wrong for caged birds," Hofacre said. "They had more corn in their diet than necessary, an excess of energy. Basically, these birds were obese. So, we reduced the corn and increased the soy and we have healthier birds."

Operations Manager Jay DeCoster said the company has also increased maintenance at the complex, inspecting cages more frequently and repairing damages that could have caught and injured the birds.

An employee training program seeks to cut down on animal abuse and requires employees to report abuse and other problems to management.

Healthier birds

John Glessner, owner of Maine Contract Farming, said the changes have resulted in a reduction in bird deaths. Before the changes, which began last summer, between 10 and 15 percent of the birds would die during the 18 months they lived on the farm. That's been reduced to about 5 percent today.

"Many of these changes, these were in process before this all began," Glessner said. "We just accelerated the time table."

According to the negotiated settlement between Maine Contract Farming and the state, the company admitted responsibility for 10 counts of animal cruelty. According to the settlement, the company paid $2,500 in fines plus $967.41 in restitution per count — a total of $25,000 in fines and $9,674.11 in restitution.

The settlement stemmed from a 2008-09 hidden camera investigation by an animal rights activist group, Mercy For Animals. An undercover investigator for the group went to work at the egg farm and documented instances of animals being mistreated and poorly handled. The group posted video from the hidden camera to its website, www.mercyforanimals.org.

 The videos led to a state investigation of the egg farm. The Maine Department of Agriculture and its Animal Welfare Program executed a search warrant on April 1, 2009, raiding the Plains Road facility. State workers shot photos and video, and seized both dead and live chickens.

As part of the settlement, the company agreed to donate $100,000 to the Maine Department of Agriculture to help monitor egg farms in the state in an effort to improve the lot of egg-laying hens across Maine.

The settlement also requires Maine Contract Farming to give state investigators regular access to its facilities, to improve staff training and to retain a veterinarian to treat the birds. That's where Hofacre and Nolan come in.

Hofacre said he visits the egg farm quarterly. Farm personnel are required to take blood from a random sampling of birds — at least 60 birds per plant, five times during their 18 months at the farm. Results are forwarded to him for review.

Glessner said the company consulted with veterinarians before, but they were usually hired by flock providers or feed makers.

"What we didn't have was the independent review, and that's really made the difference," Glessner said. "Before, they were just as interested in pushing their own product as they were in helping us."

The number of birds has not changed. The 1,700-acre farm in Turner is still home to roughly 3.9 million chickens spread over several processing plants. The birds live four or five per cage in three-tiered rows stretching the length of the plant.

The larger plants are capable of harvesting, sanitizing and packing between 252,000 and 288,000 eggs per day, every day.

staylor@sunjournal.com