--- title: Costco Chickens Cage Free Humane Society: Hens Live in Bad Conditions description: A leading chicken farm that sells eggs to Costco has forced its chickens to live in cramped cages often with decaying chicken corpses. canonical: https://time.com/3914696/cage-free-chicken-investigation/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-09T21:09:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:59.265Z article:section: Science og:title: Costco Chickens Cage Free Humane Society: Hens Live in Bad Conditions og:description: A leading chicken farm that sells eggs to Costco has forced its chickens to live in cramped cages often with decaying chicken corpses. og:url: https://time.com/3914696/cage-free-chicken-investigation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt718473c20ce29a92/698853c255a8595aaaa8c6bb/humane-society-chickens.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Costco Egg Investigation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Costco Chickens Cage Free Humane Society: Hens Live in Bad Conditions twitter:description: A leading chicken farm that sells eggs to Costco has forced its chickens to live in cramped cages often with decaying chicken corpses. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt718473c20ce29a92/698853c255a8595aaaa8c6bb/humane-society-chickens.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # An Undercover Investigation Alleges Major Mistreatment of Egg-Laying Hens > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5927f14d-3a66-4d25-8a40-49052dff1920&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Inside the Canine Mind [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the Canine Mind](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dTemQHb7.m3u8) (2:08)  _Published 2009-09-11. Professor Brian Hare at Duke University studies people's pet dogs to understand how canines think_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 9, 2015 9:09 PM UTC  Undercover investigation conducted at an egg supplier to Costco, the nation’s second-largest grocery retailer. Undercover investigation conducted at an egg supplier to Costco, the nation’s second-largest grocery retailer. Courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 9, 2015 9:09 PM UTC An undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States found that a leading chicken farm that sells eggs to retail giant Costco has forced its chickens to live in cramped cages, often with decaying or mummified chicken corpses, the group said on Tuesday. “It really is harder to imagine a worse existence than being confined in one of these battery cages,” said Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society, on a telephone press conference. “The inhumane and unhygienic conditions that we exposed… are unsustainable.” A Humane Society affiliate worked undercover at Hillandale Farms in Pennsylvania for nearly a month while simultaneously capturing photographic and [video evidence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeabWClSZfI) of grim treatment of egg-supplying chickens. In the video several hens are crammed together in a small cage, each living on less space than a sheet of paper. The group alleges that a single worker may be responsible for more than 250,000 chickens, making it difficult to keep track of dead chickens. Many hens that have died will sit at the bottom of their cages for weeks before being removed, the investigation says. **Read More**: [A Guide to What Kind of Eggs You Should Buy](http://time.com/3664951/organic-free-range-omega-3-eggs-what-to-buy/) The eggs’ packaging, which portrays chickens roaming on an idyllic farm with green grass, couldn’t be further from the truth, Shapiro said. “These hens never feel sun on their back, never set foot on a blade of grass, never even spread their wings,” he said. The treatment of caged hens could have health implications for humans as well as hens. Multiple studies have found that housing hens in particularly close quarters, known as battery cages, may increase the likelihood of _salmonella_ poisoning. Indeed, a Hillandale facility in Iowa was at the center of a salmonella outbreak that affected more than 1,600 people and led to the recall of 500 million eggs, according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/09/20/cdc-egg-salmonella-victims-tops-1600) (CDC). At the time, a Hillandale representative said that the incident had company officials “to take a hard look at our operations.” This is not the first time undercover reporting by animal rights organizations has exposed practices seen as inhumane. A 2008 video captured by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) of brutal methods used to kill pigs at an Iowa farm sparked a national outcry. In response, agriculture lobbyists began to advocate for controversial laws that would criminalize undercover reporting on the treatment of animals. The European Union banned battery cages in 2012 and many suppliers in the U.S. have followed suit. For its part, Costco announced in 2007 that it planned to move to cage free eggs, but didn’t provide a timeline for achieving that goal. Hillandale Farms and Costco representatives did not immediately return requests for comment from TIME. Reuters [reported](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/09/us-costco-wholesale-eggs-idUSKBN0OP2BJ20150609) that a Hillandale employee said the company was aware of the investigation, but had no immediate comment. ## Transcript [00:00] >>Henry. [00:00] >>Henry. [00:00] >>Henry. [00:00] >>Henry. [00:00] >>Okay. The [00:07] mission of the Duke Canine Cognition Center-- [00:09] >>One, two, three, go. [00:12] >>is to understand dog Psychology in a way that [00:15] people really haven't been looking at dogs until very [00:19] recently. Dogs have shared an evolutionary history with [00:22] us over the last 10, 000 or 15, 000 years at least. [00:27] They solve problems more like we do, in [00:31] many cases, more like we do than our closest relatives, [00:35] Chimpanzees and Bonobos. We wanna study people's [00:39] pets because there's no dog on the planet that's [00:43] more sophisticated than a dog that has to manipulate [00:45] or understand what its owner wishes, and what [00:50] its owner is trying to get it to do. [00:54] >>Henry. [00:55] >>One of the games that we are presenting is a very [00:58] simple game to try to understand how dogs [01:02] understand our gestural communication. [01:03] >>Here we go. Good job, [01:08] Henry. [01:09] >>The question is how do dogs understand that [01:11] information and how do they use it? We wanna [01:13] understand what, is the effect of domestication on dog [01:17] psychology. [01:17] >>We'll let them meet and then we could know, and [01:20] then maybe he'll calm down. [01:21] >>Hello. This is Bruno. [01:21] >>Why is it that some breeds solve problems [01:25] differently than others? [01:26] >>Where is it? I don't have it. [01:30] >>Since he's doing so good we're just gonna use his [01:33] gaze or which cup he's standing closest to as his [01:36] choice. [01:36] >>The goal of all the research is really to understand [01:38] what is it about our species that is so unique [01:43] or different? [01:43] >>Bruno! [ unk ] or dad? Boy, this is crazy business [01:45] you're making me do. He's like, why don't you just give [01:48] me the food? Bruno! Okay bye, Bruno. [01:49] >>Bye, Bruno! [01:49] >>Bye! Thanks for coming! Here you go-- one more [01:49] for the road, Bruno, one more for the road. There you [01:50] go big guy. 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