Have you ever been stuck in a jam-packed subway car? Crowded shoulder-to-shoulder with dozens of other people, your feet ache from standing. There’s nowhere to sit. There’s barely room to breathe. All you can think about is getting off at the next stop.

Now imagine you never will.

As you read this, millions of hens across the US are trapped in “battery cages”—one of the cruelest inventions ever used on factory farms. (And that’s saying something.) Each hen lives her entire life in a filthy space the size of a sheet of paper, packed into a tiny cage with up to nine other hens. The wire bars rub her skin raw and hurt her sensitive feet. The only time she’ll see the sun is the day she’s sent to slaughter.

In response to outrage from compassionate people like you, thousands of major restaurant brands have promised to phase out these brutal cages by the year 2025. But as we inch closer to the looming deadline, they've gone radio silent.

Why can’t these companies report their progress? Are they actually emptying cages—or making empty promises?