Mercy for Animals has declined to identify the person who worked undercover at Quality Egg of New England, but has made available excerpts from the worker’s diary. Using photographs, video and audio recordings, the undercover worker documented 83 instances of alleged cruelty, including farm workers allegedly ignoring sick and injured birds and improper disposal of dying hens. Workers’ names have been replaced by “XXXX”.

Incident 2: Dec. 17, 2008

I saw five dead hens on the floor in a cage aisle of barn 31, all which appeared on the floor after 12:30. I saw one live chicken lying on the floor near XXXX (last name unknown). The hen was barely holding her head up, but was otherwise prostrate on the ground. I pointed out to XXXX that she wasn’t dead, so he prodded her with a metal pole before picking her up and spinning her by her neck three times. He then kicked her into the manure pit.

Incident 4: Jan. 28, 2009

In barn 30, I saw a hen hung up by her left leg on a piece of wire used to hold a feed trough to a row of middle cages. XXXX16 hangs up dead birds in such a manner when he finds them after he has collected all of his dead chickens in the backs of his barns in the morning, presumably to keep them off of the floor and out of the way for additional work. This hen, however, was breathing. Her eyes were closed and a translucent yellow discharge hung from her beak. I observed her for about a minute, noting that she was breathing but otherwise unresponsive. It was, however, immediately obvious to me that she was breathing when I came across her, as the gasps she was taking for air left her head moving back and forth slightly. This hen also had a mucous-like substance drip.

Incident 7: Dec. 19, 2008

In barn 32, I found a live hen amidst a pile of dead hens in a gray plastic trash can. She suffered severe feather loss on her torso, and her back was reddened and raw, indicating she had been pinned or unable to walk in her cage and was trampled by other birds for some time. She was moving slightly and obviously breathing. I told my supervisor XXXX about her, and said that I occasionally see live hens in trash cans with dead birds. I asked him about it, asking if he keeps a different count for sick birds and mortality. He responded, “No, it’s all just dead.” To make sure XXXX understood me, I said, “Oh, hey. But, if they’re still alive in there, I don’t gotta’ worry with it. It all counts as dead, right?” as I stood next to the trash can with a live hen in it I had just pointed out to him. He said, “Yeah,” making it clear that he was instructing me to leave live animals in trash cans.

Incident 11: Jan. 2, 2009

Two gray trash cans in the back of barn 30 were overflowing with dead hens. Each had a live hen amongst them. One hen had severe feather loss over almost her entire body, lying partially on a dead bird in a trash can and partially against a wall, with one wing spread up against the wall. Another live hen was partially buried under dead chickens. Both were visibly breathing and moving their heads, and the one lying under dead hens also made an audible call.

(The next day, the live hen from the previous day who was up against the wall was still there.)

Incident 42: Dec. 29, 2008

In barn 31, I found a hen with her right wing and head stuck under the front wall, and she was in a position such that her beak was pointed down through the wire flooring extending beyond her cage. Her cage was shared by three other hens, who were stepping on the trapped hen’s back. In addition, the trapped hen was missing almost all of the feathers on her back – presumably from being trampled by other hens in her cage.

Incident 49: Jan. 13, 2009

A hen with four other hens in her cage was trapped under her cage’s front wall. There was a metal plate at the front of the cage that kept her pinned against the flooring, with the right side of her face being scraped because it was on a moving conveyor belt that collected eggs. She was taking short gasps of breath and had her eyes closed. Her back was missing about 90% of its feathers. I managed to get her unstuck, and saw that the right side of her face including her eye, which had been pressed against the moving conveyor belt, was encrusted in what appeared to be egg yolk and dust. I set her on the ground where she lay immobile.