Honest Eggs Co. is putting fitness trackers on its free-range chickens and printing their steps on its eggs

Honest Eggs Co., a “regenerative open-range egg collective” in Australia, has come up with a novel way of proving its chickens really do roam free. It’s putting fitness trackers on them.

The new product, FitChix, developed with agency VMLY&R, is the first use of health-tracking technology made specifically for chickens. Honest Eggs Co. will monitor the vitals of its chickens, using the small and discrete FitChix tracker designed to not interfere with daily life. 

Eggs in Australian supermarkets will display the step counts of the chickens who laid them.

“We launched FitChix to help monitor the health of our chooks [Australian slang for chickens] and to continue to bring attention to why regenerative farming is better for the hens, the egg, the land, the farmer and the community,” said Roger Boyd, general manager of Honest Eggs Co. “In an extremely confusing category, Honest Eggs Co. is an easy choice as it is the one you can count on to be honest and transparent about the way we farm.”

Honest Eggs Co. and VMLY&R will promote FitChix through an integrated campaign, including social media and in-store ads. There is also the educational video above, co-developed by Australian film production company Airbag, that takes place on an open farm and explains how the FitChix works.

Honest Eggs Co. hopes the transparency of its “regenerative egg farming” and humane chicken conditions will engage consumers who are conscious of the environmental impact of their shopping habits.

“The egg category is a minefield of naming conventions, all designed to sound like the chickens are getting a pretty good deal. The reality is often otherwise,” said Jake Barrow, group executive creative director of VMLY&R. “FitChix is an innovation that delivers irrefutable proof that the chickens at Honest Eggs farms live a free and healthy life.”