The investigation is still ongoing for a Turlock chicken farm operator who is facing potential charges on animal cruelty and neglect following the deaths of 50,000 hens.  
A complaint to the Stanislaus Animal Services Agency, led investigators to A&L Poultry, which is about 14 miles from California State University, Stanislaus.
Owner, Andy Keung Cheung, neglected the hens for more than two weeks. He stated that he could not afford the cost of feed according to nbcbayarea.com.  
David Phinney, an animal care coordinator at Vacaville’s nonprofit Animal Place, described how the hungry birds could be heard pecking at their empty food troughs.
It used to be standard procedure on huge egg farms to starve hens periodically to force them into another laying cycle.
Burger King, McDonald’s, Safeway, and others demanded an end to this starvation-induced forced molting, and the practice was ended by most egg producers in the United States according to opposingviews.com.
According to the Modesto Bee about a dozen responders wore protective suits, boots and masks as they removed dead hens from one of the two long barns at the site. Many of the hens that survived had to be euthanized because they were thin.
Officials had not said how the carcasses would be disposed of, though dead hens and other farm animals usually go to rendering plants, where they are made into ingredients for various products.
The hens at A&L poultry are a small part of the egg industry in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. Stanislaus County alone produced about 32 million eggs in 2010, according to the agricultural commissioner’s office.
According to the Turlock Journal, Stanislaus County Animal Services Executive Director Annette Patton announced that 3,500 hens were sent to rescues, with the majority transported by the Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society to Animal Place, a farm rescue in Grass Valley.  After the hens have recuperated, they will be ready for adoption.
“If we can save a few chickens, that’s a good thing,” Patton said. “That’s always our first choice.”