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Almost 100,000 Birds Could Be Imprisoned on a Monstrous Farm – Act Now!

Plans have been submitted to expand a Yorkshire egg factory farm to imprison almost 100,000 hens at a time and treat them as egg-laying machines before they are inevitably sent to slaughter. Please help stop these plans!

Greenacre Farm already confines 32,000 hens in filthy, barren sheds. The proposed expansion would triple that number, subjecting 96,000 birds to misery, disease, and eventual slaughter.

PETA investigations into other UK egg farms, similar to the one shown in the image below, have uncovered significant cruelty. Please act now!

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Broken Bones and No Place to Roam

Chickens are sentient beings who feel pain, joy, and happiness. As well as being self-aware, they form friendships and social hierarchies and have impressive problem-solving abilities. Each hen is someone, not something. Confining them against their will is cruel. Hens exploited for their eggs have been selectively bred to produce around 300 eggs a year. Naturally, they would lay around 12. This takes a huge toll on their tiny bodies, often leading to them suffering from calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, and broken bones. Disease runs rampant in such filthy, cramped sheds - many birds die, and some are left to rot among the living.

Don't Be Duped by the Free-Range Myth

The developers claim that the facility would adhere to “free-range” standards, but multiple investigations on farms across the UK have uncovered that such labels don’t prevent animals from suffering. Chickens on “free-range” farms have been documented living in cramped, dark barns with debilitating injuries and limited access to food and water. While regulations require that outdoor areas are available, they’re often barren or exposed - offering little comfort or incentive for chickens to venture out. And avian flu regulations mean that even that possibility is often denied these birds. 

The Egg Industry Is the Meat Industry

Chickens naturally live for up to 12 years, but those held at this facility would likely be killed after just 70 weeks. When hens stop producing enough eggs, they are stuffed into crates in huge trucks and taken to be killed for “low-grade” meat such as dog food. Such trips are so horrific that over a million chickens die in transit each year. They may be gassed or have their throats cut, and be plunged into hot scalding tanks. They may be conscious during this entire process. 

By choosing to be a vegetarian and eating eggs, you are still funding an industry that kills animals.  

The Growing Threat of Bird Flu

Bird flu is a major pandemic threat, and chicken farming is largely to blame. Infected birds are being killed across the country on farms right now, but confining chickens in unsanitary barns is creating a ticking time bomb. If bird flu mutates to spread among humans, it could be even more devastating than the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the former director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that bird flu is “very likely” to be the next human pandemic – and the human mortality rate could be as high as 50%. 

Tell the Council You Object to the Expansion!

You have until 19 November to tell the council you object to the plans. Please sign our petition now. 

Please note that the council may choose to publish this information along with comments related to this application.
 

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Sign the Petition Today

UN MIS Petition Description Text - *Important Note* You must UNLINK this shared library component before making page-specific customizations.

To: Cllr Lyn Healing, East Riding Yorkshire Council 

Re: Planning Application 25/02979/PLF

Dear Ms Healing, 

We are writing in relation to planning application 25/02979/PLF, which seeks permission for the erection of a third free-range egg production unit on Green Acre Farm (HU12 0LA). The new unit would hold as many as 32,000 hens at a time, bringing the total number of chickens the site could hold to 96,000.

 We object to this proposal for the following reasons: 

•    Operations on the farm – as well as the chickens’ waste and the bodies of dead chickens – would likely produce even more strong odours which could potentially disturb passersby.

•    Increased levels of ammonia from the chickens’ waste would be emitted from the farm into the surrounding area, likely having a negative impact on air quality and potentially having a detrimental effect on human health, wildlife, and the environment. 

•    The farm already produces large amounts of poultry litter, which is exported off-site. With an extra building, there will be increased risk that this could leak or spill and contaminate the surrounding area. 

•    The proposed expansion will result in an increase in vehicular movements. There will be four additional bird deliveries at the beginning of each flock cycle, and four collections to remove “spent hens” at the end of the 70-week cycle. There will also be one additional feed delivery per week. All of these will be in 16.5 metre articulated HGVs. This could potentially worsen traffic in the surrounding area.

•    Bird flu remains a considerable pandemic threat to humanity. The proposed facility would potentially be a breeding ground for this disease and could pose an immense risk to public health. Some strains of bird flu can be transmitted from birds to humans, and the most deadly of these, H5N1 and H7N9, have killed hundreds of people around the globe. Right now, Yorkshire – along with the UK as a whole - is battling yet another bird flu outbreak. As you may be aware, free-range farms are often forced to keep birds inside due to the threat of bird flu. The last thing the country needs is another chicken farm.  

•    Finally, the farm expansion would cause chickens to suffer on an even bigger scale. Chickens, like humans, feel pain and distress. As many as 96,000 birds at a time would be crammed into the three units. They would be denied the chance to do anything that comes naturally to them, such as roaming, pecking for food, scratching, and building nests for their offspring. Chickens naturally live for up to 12 years, but those held at this facility would likely be sent to an abattoir after just 70 weeks on the farm. There, they would face a throat-cutting machine before being plunged into scalding-hot water. 

We hope you will take our objections into account, along with comments made by local residents, when coming to a decision on this application. 

Yours sincerely, 
 

Act Now

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