‘High’ Cost of Eggs Prompts Reality Check From PETA: Hens Pay the Highest Price of All
For Immediate Release:
September 4, 2025
Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382
Public health experts warn that the upcoming seasonal migration of wild birds and human flu season could send bird flu spreading through chickens and humans, spiking the already elevated cost of eggs—so PETA has erected a sky-high message reminding everyone who pays the real price for eggs: hens. The message appears just down the street from several restaurants and grocery stores that sell eggs from Hickman Family Farms—Arizona’s largest egg producer—which barbarically killed 95% of its birds due to Bird Flu, adding to the 173 million chickens and turkeys killed nationwide since the current outbreak began.
“If consumers think egg prices are scary, they should take a peek inside the egg industry’s filthy sheds, where hens are crammed together in a hotbed of disease,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages everyone to try bird-flu-proof vegan eggs, which are delicious, nutritious, and let chickens live in peace.”
Chickens feel joy, fear, and pain, just as humans do, but hens used for egg production are kept in tiny wire cages where they don’t even have enough room to spread their wings. Once their egg production drops, they’re sent to slaughterhouses where their throats are slit—often while they’re still conscious—and many are scalded to death in de-feathering tanks. And the bird flu outbreak has only increased their suffering: So far in 2025 alone, over 38 million chickens infected with bird flu have been killed in horrifying ways, such as being smothered to death with foam, in an attempt to contain the disease.
PETA’s billboard is located at 1398 S. Alvernon Way in Columbus Village.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way” offers a list of affordable vegan egg options on its website and a free vegan starter kit for those looking to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
