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PACE Farm Investigation: Belconnen, ACT July 19, 2002
Pace Farm in Belconnen (formerly Parkwood Eggs) is the largest battery hen factory in Canberra. There are 7 sheds on the property confining approximately 245,000 battery hens. The birds are caged in old dilapidated wire cages three tiers high in windowless sheds. Our rescue team has inspected this property on numerous occasions in the past seven years and in 1995 and 1999 made detailed photographic cruelty complaints to the police. The latest inspection showed that conditions continue to be appalling, outside the law and totally unacceptable.
The cage design at Pace Farm Belconnen is the worst we have ever witnessed. The doors are very difficult to open and there is a stationary wire across the cages that means the actual opening is quite small and it is impossible to remove a hen from the cage without causing her stress and possible broken bones.
Our rescue team found hens starving in the manure pits. The huge gap underneath the bottom row of cages on the floor above, allows hens to drop down to a slow and cruel death sinking in their own droppings. The manure pit and cage area were filthy dirty, covered in cobwebs, dust and crawling insects. We filmed a pile of dead bodies left to rot on the floor near the cages and we saw rats eating these corpses.
Many of the birds had respiratory problems and made rasping breathing sounds. The filthy conditions and dust, along with the poor ventilation and strong amnonia in the shed, may be contributing to this. The birds suffered severe featherloss, debeaking and had long overgrown claws. These are all typical conditions of battery hens who have spent months confined in battery cages where they are unable to fulfill their basic instincts and instead peck at each other in their bored and frustrated state.
In all Pace Farm operations inspected, the birds were overcrowded and overstocked. Many birds suffered red and raw inflamed skin and when this touches the wire floor it is extremely painful for them.
rescuing hens starving to death in the manure pits
these dead hens dumped at the end of the aisle were being eaten by rats
hen suffering severe feather loss
the dirty, overcrowded aisles where the hens spend their entire lives
wound on one of the rescued hens
some of the more than 20 rescued hens adjusting to life in the sanctuary
PACE Farm Investigation: West Wyalong, NSW July 18, 2002
Modern-day factory farming dictates that animals are forced to live miserable and deprived lives locked in windowless sheds that must be quarantined due to the enormous numbers of animals closely confined. Today’s children do not know what a hen looks like, let alone the cruel conditions they endure. The rescue team spent part of the day filming the proposed location for Pace Farm’s anticipated largest battery hen factory in the Southern Hemisphere (720,000 hens in twelve sheds, each one caging 60,000 birds stacked six tiers high).
We took photographs of the Pace Farm pullet rearing factory recently constructed three kilometres away (see photo below). When only a day old, 65 chicks are placed into each metal cage, where they will remain until they reach sexual maturity at the age of 4-5 months. The cages are endlessly stacked in tiers and enclosed in four windowless sheds. The chicks will never ever touch the ground or see the light of day. The lights in these sheds are kept at 5 lux, which is near darkness, to push the pullets into production at 16 weeks. The rescue team did not enter these sheds, but we have absolutely no doubt we would have found many sick and dying baby birds left to slowly suffer til their end.
Pace Farm EIS describes the “operational mortality” as “normal attrition”. This figure is put at 6.7% at the end of the normal laying cycle. They go on to state that “the calculated mortality is expected to be approximately 6 birds per shed per day.” In clearer terms this calculates at 26,280 dead birds per laying cycle. It’s important to realise they are not talking about death from old age or accidental causes which would more honestly refer to normal attrition, but these birds are all very young and in their prime of life, making the 6.7% mortality rate extremely high and very cruel considering it can only be connected to the extreme stress and deprivation these birds are subjected to.
PACE Farm Investigation: Hanwood, NSW July 17, 2002
Pace Farm now own and operate the old Bartter battery hen factory in Hanwood (outside Griffiths NSW). There are eleven huge single tier sheds on this property. They are very old and dilapidated with wooden slatted sides, many in disrepair. The cold wind blows through the sheds. We only accessed one shed on the property (which had its lights on) The shed had just been depopulated and the accumulated faecal droppings from all the hens reached to the bottom of the cages. The cages were very old and many were in disrepair. We noticed several hens roaming through the manure piles, so we entered the shed (see shed below marked X).
To our horror we found several birds who were literally buried in wet faeces, with only their heads protruding. We managed to pull four of these birds out to safety, others had to be left behind. The rescue team routinely finds hens left deserted and stuck in faecal matter in the manure pits. Employees at battery hen farms tell us that when the bulldozers come in to remove the manure they just scoop up these birds who get crushed or buried alive in their faeces. We believe this is common practice on huge battery hen farms.
The hens we rescued were given warm baths and dried. All had long overgrown claws, some 2 cms in length, which we trimmed. They were unable to walk (like any battery hens anywhere they had never had a chance to walk in their lives).
The hens had red and raw skin (erythema) which could have been caused by ammonia burns from the faeces. They were dehydrated, emaciated, and their combs were turning black. It was a pitiful sight and a clear case of cruel neglect by Pace Farms to leave birds in such conditions.
aerial shot of the hanwood egg factory
left to slowly die in the manure pits
lives saved by the animal rescue team
rescued hen about to have a bath
all cleaned up and having a drink
the rescued hens enjoying their first taste of freedom
PACE Farm Investigation: Corowa, NSW July 16, 2002
The Pace Farm battery hen complex in Corowa is managed by Joe Svarc and consists of two enormous metal sheds with approximately 50,000 birds caged in each shed. The cages are four tiers high, and restricted by the Government’s Code of Practice to four hens per cage. The rescue team first inspected this property in 1993 and witnessed consistent overcrowding. On our return visit on this year we again saw gross over-crowding and all the cages we viewed held five or six hens.
The cages measure 43 cm in height at the front and 37 cm at the back, meaning none of the hens can ever stand at their full height. (An Isa hen standing at full height is 45 cm). The shed we accessed had recently been cleared and was restocked with young and fully feathered pullets. There was a rubbish bin full of dead hens sitting on the floor near the cages.
The overcrowding meant more eggs being laid and we filmed the piles of broken eggs that were falling off the conveyor belt at one end of the shed. Many of the hens we saw in the short time we were in the shed were badly debeaked and packed tightly into the tiny cages. Big open gaps at the end of each row were left uncovered, meaning any hens getting out of the cage could fall into the manure pit below. Workers in this shed and other Pace sheds have told us that birds who fell into the manure pit were sometimes used for target practice by other workers.
rubbish bin full of dead bodies
the rescue team at work documenting cruel conditions
severely deformed beak
cruelty investigator cradles hen with deformed beak
unsanitary conditions below the egg conveyor belt
PACE Farm Investigation: Kinglake, Victoria July 7, 2002
The Pace Farm complex in Kinglake has six to seven huge metal sheds confining barnlaid laying hens (all endorsed by the RSPCA). Kinglake is a heavily forested area north of Melbourne. Inside information reports that there is a big condensation problem on this property, as the sheds were badly designed and cut into the forest. The rescue team found overcrowding (but not as severe as at South Morang).
There were no perches at all in the sheds, and we found many hens sleeping/roosting in the nesting boxes (which is very unsanitary, as laying hens defecate a lot at night). The sheds had electrified wires shocking the hens when they tried to roost. The birds were debeaked and many had the same spot on the back of their necks pecked by stereotypic neck picking. Dead birds were found and were being pecked by the hens.
PACE Farm Investigation: South Morang, Victoria June - July, 2001
The Pace Farm complex in South Morang (north of Melbourne) is mostly battery hens (four enormous multi-tiered sheds and numerous single tiered cage sheds). There are also two barnlaid sheds which are endorsed by the RSPCA, and one shed referred to as "free-range".
On June 20, 2001 the rescue team inspected one of the barnlaid sheds and witnessed extreme over crowding, there were no perches at all (even though the RSPCA assures consumers there is adequate perch space) and the birds were severely debeaked, many missing their whole top beak. Electrified wires ran along the top of the feeding and water outlets, shocking the hens when they tried to roost. There were no 'hospital bay' areas for sick or injured hens to rest. We witnessed groups of hens cannibalising sick and injured hens. One hen was catatonic and weighed only 1.2 kg, below half normal body weight (see below). She was later euthanased by a vet.
The rescue team returned on July 5, 2001 to the Pace Farm complex in South Morang. One of the barnlaid sheds had just been depopulated. Several hens had been abandoned and left behind in the cold empty shed, which was still full of the accumulated faecal matter from thousands of hens over a one year period. Three hens were found roosting on a pile of dead bodies. These hens had hardened faecal balls, some the size of oranges on each claw (see photo). These clumps had to be soaked for over an hour and chiseled off with a hammer. The hens were severely dehydrated, underweight and weak.
The team then went inside one of the totally enclosed four tier high battery cage sheds. They found dozens of debilitated and ill battery hens abandoned and left to die in mountains of their own excrement in the pit under their cages.
On the cage floor level the rescue team found severe overcrowding and numerous sick and injured hens left unattended in the cages. Many were bald and suffering gashes and wounds from overgrown claws and or pecking by the other birds. Dead bodies were left rotting in the cages with the live birds. The smell was noxious and the birds made frantic noises non-stop.
On leaving the property around midnight, the rescue team saw a semi-trailer truck stacked high with crates of live birds left standing out exposed in the dark night. It was cold, windy and raining, these birds made miserable sounds, it was heartbreaking.
sick and injured birds being taken to freedom
a hen suffering severe feather loss in the south morang battery
life in the battery
faecal balls on this hen rescued from the manure pit had to be chiselled off with a hammer
this starving hen was found in a catatonic state...
she was not able to recover and had to be euthanased by a vet
The photos and captions have been provided courtesy of Animal Liberation Victoria's Action Animal Rescue Team. Animal Liberation Victoria has submitted an objection to the planning authority detailing the findings of the investigations. The report also addresses environmental and competition concerns relating to the proposed factory. In addition to these concerns the objection includes documents highlighting serious issues regarding the enforcement of animal cruelty violations at PACE.
The organisation entrusted with the power to make cruelty prosecutions, the RSPCA, is in business with PACE (receiving royalties on endorsed barn laid eggs and over $35,000 in 'sponsorship' money). With the RSPCA receiving substantial sums of money from those they are supposed to investigate, how can the public have any faith that the RSPCA are doing their job?
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