Exposed: Video Shows Local “Cage-Free” Albertsons Supplier Cramming 30,000 Hens Indoors
For Immediate Release:
September 10, 2026
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
Hens packed so tightly that the floor beneath them all but disappears, birds panting in the heat, and a worker struggling to open a gate without hitting chickens crowded in his path: That’s what a PETA eyewitness documented in new video footagetaken inside Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs in Lakeside. Those conditions contradict how the facility’s eggs are marketed at San Diego-area Albertsons stores, where they’re sold as “cage-free” and “free-range” and promoted with what appear to be false claims to consumers of “expansive pastures.”
At least 10,000 hens were found packed into each of three metal sheds, totaling roughly 30,000 birds. The sheds stank of waste, and dust filled the air. Stressed birds fought one another, and a worker acknowledged that the hens “do look kind of packed in there.” Yet the eggs are marketed as collected from a “stress-free” environment for hens, and Hilliker’s owner has even referred to the operation as “Chicken Disneyland.”
PETA has today sent a letter to Albertsons CEO Susan Morris urging the company to reconsider its relationship with Hilliker’s and end the sale of eggs that dupe caring consumers by making misleading animal welfare claims like “cage-free.” PETA points out that consumers paying premium prices for eggs marketed as more humane would not expect the conditions shown in the eyewitness video.
“Hens at Hilliker’s are mutilated as chicks and crammed together by the thousands, yet Albertsons is selling these eggs to kindhearted San Diego shoppers who think they are buying a humane option but are still paying for a product of suffering,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “Consumers deserve to know what these operations really look like, and anyone disturbed by this footage can vote with their dollars by choosing vegan eggs or no eggs at all.”
PETA’s recent white paper about cage-free eggs reveals that feather pecking, fighting, and cannibalism are more common in cage-free systems, where frustrated hens are forced to compete for food, water, and nests. Some 85% to 97% suffer painful keel-bone (sternum) fractures, and many endure respiratory disease and skin lesions caused by ammonia-laden dust and feces-soaked litter. Hens in cage-free systems also endure many cruel, standard industry practices: chicks are “debeaked”—a painful mutilation in which the sensitive tips of their beaks are cut or burned off, sometimes leaving birds to struggle eating, drinking, and grooming themselves.
Chickens form complex social structures, dream when they sleep, and worry about the future, just as humans do. PETA notes that delicious vegan egg options are widely available, including Just Egg and Yo Egg. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
