Unlike factory egg brands that try to cover up how they treat their hens with pictures of idyllic farms and nice-sounding labels, like “cage-free,” Vital Farms believes people deserve an honest look at where their food comes from—free of any misleading bullsh*t.

So, when it came time to capture the latest Vital Farms campaign, we turned to the most honest photographers we could find: their hens.

We built the world’s first hen-operated camera that allowed the hens of Vital Farms to capture hundreds of stunning, and oftentimes strange, photos of their home.

This film tells the story of how a flock of curious hens became photographers, while giving us a beautiful, bullsh*t-free view of where Vital Farms eggs come from.

With no way of knowing if a hen-operated camera would work, or if the hens would be willing to interact with it, budgets were rightfully limited. Our overall production budget was $54,890, and our overall media budget was $146,935.67

To bring the idea to life, we acted as both the creative agency and production company. We also directed the film ourselves. Additionally, we avoided paying day rates, usage fees and licensing fees because our photographers and talent were a flock of generous hens. We did make sure to compensate them fairly with plenty of worms though.

To overcome the challenge of making a first-of-its-kind camera with a boot-string budget, we brought in prop and camera specialists who knew how to use everyday, found materials to make the functioning, hen-friendly apparatus.