Cannibal chickens, cockroaches and mite-infested eggs: a poultry farm in Manacor is denounced

PalmaA poultry farm at the Mirabó estate, in Manacor, with 40,000 hens, has been reported to the Balearic Islands Prosecutor's Office due to unsanitary conditions and possible non-compliance with animal welfare regulations. The animal and environmental protection organizations ARDE and Satya Animal have made public images from an investigation carried out in July 2026, in which eggs with mites, cockroaches, and live hens living alongside carcasses in various stages of decomposition can be seen. Cases of cannibalism have even been documented.

According to the reporting organizations, the facilities show a significant lack of hygiene, with accumulations of manure, flies, cobwebs, and deteriorated structures. The animal rights activists have also documented remains of a dead rat, hens with partial or total feather loss, and animals with open lesions on their faces and necks. In some cases, serious wounds and pale combs are observed.

The veterinary report provided in the complaint warns that the presence of eggs in contact with excrement and organic matter, as well as proximity to dead animals and mite infestation, may pose a risk to food safety. The document points out that these conditions can promote bacterial contamination and recalls that mites can act as reservoirs for salmonella.

In fact, the same farm recorded a salmonella outbreak in 2025, which led to the withdrawal of its eggs from supermarkets. The organizations have reported the facts to both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Department of Agriculture and consider that the documented conditions could violate various national and European animal health and welfare regulations.

The farm is managed by Avícola Ballester, a company that has already been sanctioned for previous irregularities. In 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment imposed a fine of 200,000 euros for various deficiencies, among which were the presence of dead rodents and hens that had been dead for more than 24 hours, the lack of health records, and inadequate hygienic conditions.

A year earlier, in 2024, the company had received another sanction of 150,000 euros for operating a facility without the mandatory integrated environmental authorization since 2017 and for incorrect management of excrement.

The complaint comes as Avícola Ballester promotes a new project in the same municipality: a farm with two sheds with a capacity for 80,000 hens, presented in June 2026. The initiative has generated neighborhood opposition and favored the creation of the No Mega-farm platform.

ARDE, Satya Animal and neighborhood organizations are requesting that the project be archived and that the investigated farm be closed. Julia Elizalde, spokesperson for ARDE, believes that the images show "absolutely unacceptable" treatment of the animals and demands that the Minister of Agriculture, Joan Simonet, prevent the expansion of the activity and order the closure of the farm.

The controversy surrounding Avícola Ballester goes back further. In the summer of 2024, the company proposed building a farm in Mallorca with a capacity for 739,000 hens, which would have been the largest in Spain. The proposal met with opposition from several town councils and social organizations. In January 2025, the Government approved Decree 1/2025, which bans poultry farms with more than 160,000 animals in the Balearic Islands.