When you’re shopping for eggs, you’re probably focused on choosing a brand that offers a good price. However, it’s important to consider factors such as chicken cruelty and the conditions laying hens are kept in when choosing an egg brand to support. What you learn here about the differences in the industry may change your mind about how you select your next dozen eggs.
Close confinement
When we talk about laying hens being caged, we’re generally referring to them being kept in battery cages. This is the type of cage that most egg-laying birds are confined to in the United State.
Battery cages provide each hen with just 67 square inches of space. Notably, America’s United Egg Producers stipulates that this is the minimum amount of space each bird must have.
Typically, battery cages are about 15 inches tall and are used to accommodate between four and 10 hens. They are stacked one on top of another to form columns of eight cages or more.
Life in such close quarters means that the birds don’t have enough room to even spread their wings without touching the sides of the cage or disturbing another hen. As you can imagine, living in such a small space denies these creatures the chance to run, jump, nest, perch, and dustbathe—all natural behaviors they should be afforded.
According to research by the Humane Society of the United States, years of surviving in these limited spaces have both physical and psychological impacts. Hens suffer from stress-related behaviors like pecking at their feathers and can have severe osteoporosis due to an inability to exercise. Essentially, this is animal cruelty.
Freedom to move
There are certainly much more compassionate ways to house laying hens. In contrast to a battery cage system, a cage-free or free-range approach allows birds to spread their wings, walk around, and enjoy the freedom of movement that they require. Cage-free environments can vary widely.
In general, cage-free farms provide the birds with sufficient space to nest and lay their eggs naturally. Often, the hens can also enjoy places to perch and take a dust bath. Most cage-free egg producers keep their large flocks of birds inside in big open barns with no windows where artificial light substitutes for natural light.
Of course, some farms have considerably better conditions. Some operations allow birds access to more freedom including fresh air and outdoor spaces or balconies. In addition to offering laying hens a better quality of life than others, most free-range operations participate in audits by organizations such as the American Humane Farm Program to certify that the hens are housed in humane environments that meet certain standards.
One of the biggest differences between a caged and a cage-free or free-range system is that many more of the birds survive. Farms that rely on battery cages experience multiple hen deaths each year as the birds fight for survival in small spaces, succumbing to injury and dying in pain.
It should be mentioned that free-range operations are not always cruelty-free. Both methods of egg production rely on buying hatchery hens that collectively hatch thousands of chicks at the same time. The chicks are quickly sexed and females are sold while males are killed. In the United States, this accounts for over 200 million bird deaths annually.
There are several other similarities between caged and cage-free operations. In both cases, laying hens can expect to live no longer than two years before being slaughtered once they start laying fewer eggs. Some farms still practice starving their birds to encourage molting in an effort to combat declining egg production. Finally, the hens have part of their beaks removed in a practice known as “beak trimming” to prevent them from injuring themselves or other birds.
What’s in a label?
The labels that egg containers come with can be confusing. As well as “cage-free” and “free-range,” you may see “pasture-raised,” “humane,” and “organic.” Let’s take a quick dive into what some of these other terms indicate.
Eggs that say “pasture-raised” indicates the birds are given time outdoors. They might live in small chicken coops and be moved around the farm to forage for food. It suggests, too, that hens have not been forced to molt or had their beaks trimmed.
“Organic” eggs are subject to labeling by the USDA’s National Organic Program. Such eggs must be from uncaged hens that can roam freely with some outdoor access. Furthermore, they are given feed free from pesticides and fertilizers.
In conclusion
As more and more consumers understand the truly awful conditions that many laying hens endure, they are increasingly choosing to buy cage-free or free-range eggs. Fortunately, the egg industry is responding.