May: Expose the Hard-Boiled Truth during “Nat’l Egg Month”

The egg industry’s busiest time of year is the Easter season. After the holiday, “sales go down, but the hens keep on laying eggs,” says the American Egg Board. In an effort to increase consumer demand for excess eggs and boost post-Easter sales slumps, egg producers across the country celebrate May as “National Egg Month.” Compassion Over Killing is asking you to put an animal-friendly spin on this month-long industry-declared holiday by helping to expose the hard-boiled truth of egg production and empowering others to crack the cruelty by choosing egg-free foods!

Unscrambling the Truth

Egg-laying hens are perhaps the most intensively confined animals on today's factory farms. More than 95% of these hens in the U.S.—over 250 million birds—are forced to spend virtually their entire lives crammed inside barren wire battery cages, unable to perform many of their most natural behaviors including dust bathing, preening and nesting. Visit our photo gallery and video room to take a virtual tour inside an egg factory farm.

Egg-laying hens are routinely treated so cruelly, it would likely lead to prosecution if those same abuses were inflicted upon the dogs and cats with whom we share our homes.

Read COK's report: Animal Suffering in the Egg Industry, which further discusses the hidden horrors of egg production including the painful reality that all laying hens come from hatcheries that kill male chicks, often by grinding, gassing, or suffocation.

Start Making a Difference Today

The most effective step each of us can take to help laying hens is to simply leave their eggs out of our shopping carts. But our ability to affect change doesn’t end there. During “National Egg Month,” please consider lending an extra hand to these smart and social birds:

• Share egg-free foods and recipes with your friends and family. The best way to win people’s hearts is through their stomachs. Whip up some egg-less egg salad for your friends, bring egg-free chocolate chip cookies to work, or make tofu scramble for a family breakfast. For a variety of quick and easy animal-friendly recipes visit VegRecipes.org.
• Urge Dunkin’ Donuts to offer vegan donuts. Dunkin' Donuts is the world's largest coffee and baked goods chain dishing out more than 52 varieties of donuts—all made with egg and dairy products from animals forced to endure miserable conditions on factory farms. Compassion Over Killing has reached out to Dunkin' Donuts about this important issue and even shared undercover video footage revealing shocking abuse inside one of its egg suppliers, but the company is not yet taking this matter seriously. Please visit DunkinCruelty.com today to learn how you can encourage Dunkin’ Donuts to offer vegan options.
• Encourage the FDA to mandate truth in labeling on egg cartons. There are currently no federal regulations relating to the use of animal welfare claims on egg cartons in the U.S. This permits producers to use claims such as “animal-friendly” or “naturally raised” on cartons, even if those eggs came from birds confined inside barren wire cages. Support COK’s rule-making petition that would require egg producers to clearly identify “eggs from caged hens.”
• Distribute flyers exposing the hard-boiled truth. COK’s newest “Eggs from Caged Hens” flyer not only uncovers the suffering endured by egg-laying hens, but it also reveals how the egg industry is deceiving consumers about that abuse. Order free copies today!
• Write a letter to the editor. An easy and effective way to help spread a message of compassion is to write a letter to the editor of your local paper. “National Egg Month” is the perfect time to let readers know about the painful reality of egg production and the growing availability of delicious egg-free foods.