Bad Eggs: Proposed Mega-Factory Farm Angers Ohioans

Sometimes new neighbors are awesome; maybe they'll throw a great holiday party, babysit your kids, water your plants when you're on vacation. But it doesn't look like the chicken farm hoping to move into York Township, Ohio will be the type of neighbor to lend you a cup of sugar.

The farm, Hi-Q Egg Farm, has applied for a permit to build 15 layer houses in Ohio, which would be one of the largest egg-laying facilities in the nation. Each building would house 400,000 layer hens, for a total capacity of six million chickens. The farm would produce an estimated 74,000 tons of chicken manure and 23 million gallons of manure-contaminated water each year. Well, there goes the neighborhood.

But Ohioans are fighting back against the factory-farming interloper. Dozens showed up to protest the construction of Hi-Q Egg Farm at the hearing held at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. It was a public hearing, but attendees were not permitted to voice their opinions. In order to get their message across, protestors wore t-shirts that read: "Ohioans Against Hi-Q Egg Farm." 

The silent protest was organized by Mercy For Animals, an animal rights group with an office in Columbus, Ohio. MFA's protesters outnumbered all other observers at the hearing.

MFA is concerned with the welfare of the chickens that would be kept at Hi-Q. MFA has conducted investigations into numerous battery-cage factory farms, and found birds living in filthy conditions. Hens were found living in cages with rotting carcasses. Some birds had untreated wounds, and broken legs or wings.

Ohio residents have been fighting Hi-Q's plan for three years, and for a moment it looked like they'd be victorious. This past August, Robert Boggs, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, said he intended to deny Hi-Q's permits.

But there was never an official denial. The decision will likely fall on the next Agriculture director, James Zehringer, who will takes over the position in January. I can't say I trust him, as he's a former poultry farmer. As of now, Zehringer says: "It would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the actions of the current administration."

The current Ohio administration has made some good choices for animals, and I hope they aren't undone come January. Earlier this year, the Humane Society of the United States made an agreement with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to ban small cages at any new farms built after December 31. But it remains uncertain whether Ohio's new Governor, John Kasich, will hold up that agreement once the political torch is passed.

Sign our petition to tell Governor John Kasich and the Ohio Department of Agriculture to stop the construction of Hi-Q Egg Farm.

Photo Credit: Nina Matthews