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Choose Wisely

Don't make hens pay for your eggs -

Choose Wisely

It’s fair to say most Australians don’t like animal cruelty. And if you asked them, most Australian shoppers would probably say they prefer barn-laid or free range eggs, because the conditions for the hens that lay the eggs are better. Yet, sales of cage eggs continue to far outweigh sales of more humane varieties. Why is this so?

Is it because shoppers don’t realise that those innocent looking ‘cage eggs’, with packaging that may even show illustrations of happy hens in green fields, actually come from intensive battery cage systems? Perhaps it‘s just because cage eggs are inevitably cheaper that the kinder alternatives? – after all, they are much cheaper and more efficient to produce, which is why the cage system is so popular with producers.

But before you reach for those bargain cage eggs on the supermarket shelf, think about who really pays for your purchase. Start by imagining a space not much bigger than the computer screen you’re looking at right now – smaller in size than an A4 sheet of paper. Now imagine trying to fit a whole adult chicken inside that space, and keeping her there for her entire life. Don’t worry, you won’t need to make room for a perch or nest – a hen in a battery cage wouldn’t have these either. Then, imagine that same hen is in a wire cage with four other hens, and surrounded by hundreds, thousands, millions of other hens just like her. That’s how many hens are living in this situation in Australia right now; over 12.5 million hens producing more than 193 million eggs each year. Not one of them ever being able to walk around, peck or bathe in the dust, stretch or flap their wings.

These conditions would be considered unacceptable for many other kinds of animal – yet these hens continue to suffer, every minute, of every hour, of every day. This is despite how much we now know about the intelligence and capabilities of hens. Anyone who has ever kept a group of chickens in their backyard can attest to the difference in personality they display.

But did you know chickens live in social groups, and can recognise and remember more than 100 other chickens by their facial features? And that they communicate with around thirty distinct types of vocalisations, with different alarm cries to indicate whether a predator is travelling by land, air or sea!

Chickens also have the amazing ability to understand that an object, when taken and hidden from view, does not ‘disappear’ but in fact continues to exist? – this level of understanding is beyond the capacity of small children.
Knowing this, do you think these clever, complex animals should be made to pay such a price for cheaper eggs?
How important is it really to save a few cents on a carton of eggs?
These questions can only be answered by you – please, choose wisely.

Free Chickens from Cages

What does it mean to be one of the 10.5 million battery-caged hens in Australia? Battery hens are kept on average for a year in wire mesh cages 40 cm high with a floor area per bird of 450 cm2 - about three-quarters of the size of an A4 piece of paper. Battery cages do not allow the hens to stand properly, preen their feathers, stretch out or flap their wings. Battery hens cannot perch, cannot roost, cannot dust-bathe, cannot forage for food and cannot satisfy their urge to lay their eggs in a nest.

Continuous Suffering

The welfare of the battery-caged layer hen is the most compromised of all farm animals. In Australia, millions of battery hens are housed in conditions that would be unacceptable for any other species of livestock.

Preventing hens from performing these natural behaviours causes immense frustration. The restricted movement and lack of exercise in battery cages also causes skeletal and muscle weakness, and the cages' mesh floors and lack of perches can cause serious muscle damage. In short, the scientific evidence indicates that battery hens suffer intensely and continuously throughout their confinement in cages.

The Evidence

Evidence from research into hen welfare indicates that battery hens suffer intensely and continuously throughout their confinement in cages. The research suggests that "battery cages cause suffering to hens in at least 7 different ways"*:

• Chronic frustration of normal behaviours including dust-bathing and wing-flapping.

• Chronic inhibition of comfort behaviours and increased incidence of frustration behaviours.

• Chronic stress and disruption of social interaction.

• Acute suffering during the pre-laying period every day caused by frustration of nesting behaviour.

• Prevention of foraging and feather pecking.

• Inability to maintain bone strength due to restriction of exercise.

• Lack of perching opportunities and prevention of roosting.

*Baxter MR (1994). The welfare problems of laying hens in battery cages. Veterinary Record 134:614-619.

Humane Alternatives

There are humane alternatives to the battery cage system in the form of barn and free-range housing systems. These systems overcome the problems associated with confinement in battery cages by allowing hens to behave naturally. Well-designed alternative systems provide hens with space to roam and forage, perches, litter, suitable material for dust-bathing, secluded areas for laying eggs and allow the hens to preen, stretch out and flap their wings: all behaviours which are frustrated in the battery cage. They also make use of the bird's ability to fly by providing elevated terraces and perches.