Grisly video shows chicks entering grinder

Gruesome video released Tuesday of live baby chicks being fed into a grinder and being suspended by their necks will fuel an animal welfare group's campaign against the egg industry.

Welfare for Animals Campaign Coordinator Alicia Boemi said Tuesday in Cedar Rapids that the group considers the images it obtained from an Iowa chick hatchery in Spencer to be common industry practices that are not prohibited by law. She said the group is asking 50 grocery chains, including Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart, to put warning labels on eggs.

The gruesome warning labels it is seeking show a baby chick being pushed on a conveyor belt into two rotating cogs.

Iowa is the largest egg-producing state in the nation. When hatcheries birth new laying hens for egg producers, they kill the male chicks because they cannot lay eggs as adults, and are not of the type bred to produce meat.

Spokeswomen for Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart Stores, the two largest Iowa grocery retailers asked to begin using the labels, had no immediate response to the group's request.

Practices shown in the video included the feeding of live chicks into a “macerator” that grinds them up, and a mechanized process that lifts the female chicks by their head or necks and uses a laser to slice off the ends of their beaks.

Boemi said they are “standard accepted practices” in the industry. She alleged the egg industry treats chicks like “inanimate objects instead of the sentient animals they are.”

The group also decried the rough handling of chicks during a process known as “sexing” in which males are separated from females, and the use of automated equipment to separate them from their shells. The video titled “Hatchery Horrors” included images of injured chicks that had been caught and mangled in the conveyors or dragged by the conveyors into scalding water left alive on the plant floor.

Hy-Line International of West Des Moines is owner of the hatchery depicted in the video,. Boemi said Welfare for Animals paid an experienced animal welfare investigator, who took a job in the plant and shot the video using a tiny hidden video camera in late May and early June.

Warning: video is graphic.

In a statement released Monday, Hy-Line said that it provides regular training to employees on animal welfare practices and policies. It said the company's policies and procedures exceed the Animal Welfare Guidelines of the United Egg Producers, an industry association.

The company said the video appears to show violations of its policies. It said any employees found to have violated the policies will be disciplined, up to and including termination.

Hy-Line spokesman Tom Jorgensen said Tuesday that the company would have no further comment pending the completion of its investigation.

It is unlikely that following United Egg Producers guidelines would satisfy Mercy for Animals. Boemi said the group also condemns gassing male chicks to death, and supports the rights of animals to live without cruelty of any kind.

While Welfare for Animals said the kind of cruelty shown at Hy-Line does not appear to violate state laws, a spokesman for state said Iowa does offer some protection to poultry. Dustin Vande Hoef of the Iowa Department of Agricultural and Land Stewardship said state law prohibits practices that cause injury or pain to livestock that are inconsistent with accepted animal husbandry practices.

A Chicago-based animal welfare group called on grocery stores to put animal welfare warnings on eggs after releasing undercover video of live baby chicks being fed into a grinder at an Iowa hatchery.

Welfare for Animals released a two-minute video Tuesday in Cedar Rapids produced from images shot by a worker at Hy-Line International's egg hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, in late May and early June. The worker was an undercover investigator from Welfare for Animals.

The video showed male chicks flailing their wings madly as they were dropped from a conveyor belt into the augur feeding mechanism of a grinder.

Male chicks are destroyed after birth at most hatcheries because they cannot be used as “layers” in the egg industry, and are not of the type bred to produce meat.

Other images showed female birds being picked up mechanically by their necks to be “debeeked” by a laser. They included images of chicks that had been mangled or scalded in the mechanized conveyor system that separates them from their eggshells.

Campaign coordinator Alicia Boemi of Welfare for Animals said the group sent letters to 50 major grocery chains, including Wal-Mart and Hy-Vee, the two largest in Iowa. It asks them to place labels on eggs sold in their store saying: Warning - Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry.”

Calls to Hy- Vee and Wal-Mart were not immediately returned.

Boemi said such cruel practices are common in the egg industry. United Egg Producers, an industry group, was not available for comment.

Hy-Line released a statement Monday saying that it is investigating what appears to be a violation of its animal welfare policies. Company spokesman Tom Jorgensen said Tuesday that Hy-Line plans no further comment on the matter until the investigation is complete.A Chicago-based animal welfare group called on grocery stores to put animal welfare warnings on eggs after releasing undercover video of live baby chicks being fed into a grinder at an Iowa hatchery.

Welfare for Animals released a two-minute video Tuesday in Cedar Rapids produced from images shot by a worker at Hy-Line International's egg hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, in late May and early June. The worker was an undercover investigator from Welfare for Animals.

The video showed male chicks flailing their wings madly as they were dropped from a conveyor belt into the augur feeding mechanism of a grinder.

Male chicks are destroyed after birth at most hatcheries because they cannot be used as “layers” in the egg industry, and are not of the type bred to produce meat.

Other images showed female birds being picked up mechanically by their necks to be “debeeked” by a laser. They included images of chicks that had been mangled or scalded in the mechanized conveyor system that separates them from their eggshells.

Campaign coordinator Alicia Boemi of Welfare for Animals said the group sent letters to 50 major grocery chains, including Wal-Mart and Hy-Vee, the two largest in Iowa. It asks them to place labels on eggs sold in their store saying: Warning - Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry.”

Calls to Hy- Vee and Wal-Mart were not immediately returned.

Boemi said such cruel practices are common in the egg industry. United Egg Producers, an industry group, was not available for comment.

Hy-Line released a statement Monday saying that it is investigating what appears to be a violation of its animal welfare policies. Company spokesman Tom Jorgensen said Tuesday that Hy-Line plans no further comment on the matter until the investigation is complete.