Hilliker's Ranch Fresh Eggs sells cartons labeled "cage-free," a claim that leads many shoppers to pay extra because they believe it means a kinder life for hens. But an undercover investigation by PETA at the company's Lakeside, California facility tells a different story. Inside metal sheds holding at least 10,000 hens each, birds are packed shoulder to shoulder — so tightly in one shed that staff can hardly move around without bumping into them. Each hen gets only about a single square foot of floor space — the bare legal minimum, and barely more room than hens crammed into old-style battery cages.

A worker at the facility admitted the hens "do look kind of packed in there," according to PETA's investigation, even while insisting they had "plenty of room." After reviewing footage from inside the sheds, a farmed animal welfare expert who examined the investigation concluded, "the building is overstocked. There are too many hens in it."

These aren't isolated growing pains — the company reportedly plans to fill two more sheds with 10,000 more hens each, rather than giving existing birds more space. Hens raised this way also have the sensitive tips of their beaks cut or burned off as chicks, a routine practice meant to limit injuries from fighting brought on by overcrowding and stress.

Consumers deserve labels that mean what they say. "Cage-free" should describe genuine improvements in how hens are treated — not just a marketing upgrade layered on the same overcrowded conditions. Hilliker's should lower its stocking density to give hens real room to move, and stop advertising these conditions as humane when they aren't.

Sign the petition to demand Hilliker's Ranch Fresh Eggs give its hens real space — before two more sheds turn overcrowding into an even bigger problem.