Horrific video shows live chicken dumping

(Seven News)
(Seven News)

Warning: This video contains footage that may disturb some viewers.

An Australian poultry farm worker's disturbing video of live chickens being tossed from height into a skip bin has kickstarted an investigation into a farm's operations.

The footage, filmed at Forrestdale Farm Fresh Eggs in Western Australia, shows a farm worker throwing multiple hens at a time into a skip from a height of about three metres.

The video then shows the inside of the skip, which contained a mass of chickens numbering at least 100.

"When I looked under there, there was an abundance of dead chickens with live chickens -- some rotting, some smelling like an animal rotting on the side of the road," Luke Mace, the video's creator, told Seven News.

Mr Mace said he started filming when he was alerted to "clucking and chickens coming out" of the bin.

He said a fellow worker, who saw him filming, told him the chickens thrown into the skip would be gassed to make room for an intake of younger chickens.

"I thought that was a heap of crap," he said. "I think it's absolutely horrific and disgusting."

The RSPCA is now looking into the incident, and had already visited the farm later on the day the video came to light.

An employee at the farm has dismissed suggestions of animal cruelty and claimed the hens thrown into the skip were being euthanised.

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