Confinement ....could not be called other than cruel in my opinion: if a bird is unable to move without affecting physically others in the cage, nor to lay or rest without affecting itself deleteriously, the cruelty is constant and continual and without relief and, I have no doubt, causes stress in all these birds....The only evidence in this case referring to justification or necessity for the cruelty inflicted upon these birds was in the broadest terms as to economy and profitability of egg production, but such references by no means deflect me from what otherwise would be and is my strong view that all these birds have been treated with unjustified and unnecessary cruelty, constituted by great indifference to their suffering and pain."

Magistrate Philip Wright 24 February 1993: judgment against Golden Egg Farm Pty Ltd Tasmania, which was found guilty of seven counts of cruelty to hens, in a case brought by Animal Liberation and Pam Clarke.

In 1975 Peter singer reported in Animal Liberation that over 3 billion chickens were slaughtered each year in the US alone (that's 5000 every minute). Since then, poultry production worldwide has increased threefold. (4) The majority of those birds spent their entire lives in 'factory' farms. The battery farm is the most notorious and the source of almost every egg on breakfast plates all around the world.

Today, 95 %of Australia's commercial laying hens live in battery cages. That's 11 million birds. In the US a single farm can contain as many as 1 million hens.

What's wrong with the life of a Battery Hen?
Cruel caging - A battery farmed hen is not able to spread her wings, she is not able to exercise. By law she shares with 3 or 5 others a cage measuring 50 x 50cm. This means she has approximately 450sqcm, roughly two thirds of the area of a sheet of A4 paper.

Injuries - Standing on wire for her whole life, she is not able to use her claws to scratch so they grow long, sometimes deformed, sometimes they grow around the wires, or get snared. She has to stretch her neck through the wire to feed, usually rubbing off feathers and creating open wounds.

Photo Brekegg courtesy Patty Mark.

Is this your breakfast egg?

"Dead hens lie beside eggs in
collection tray above manure build up on floor".




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"Amy is badly debeaked, emaciated and riddled with cancer. She was found near death, unattended and crying pain in a Melbourne battery cage."




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"These three hens are still alive and were left unattended by the owners to slowly starve and die in the manure pit. "

Illness - She may suffer from the many illness that afflict hens as a direct result of their caging: feather loss and skin damage, injury to her feet (including abnormal claw growth), poor bone development which leads to bones, especially in the leg, being easily broken from being constantly drained of calcium to form egg shells. Battery hens may develop severe osteoporosis from intensive confinement, known as 'caged layer fatigue'. She may become paralysed with this condition and die of hunger and thirst in sight of food and water. Lack of exercise means that her bones are additionally weakened, so she may suffer more broken bones, especially when removed from the cage and in transport. "A Victorian study (reported by Animals Australia) of end-of-lay hens has shown that 14-27.5 percent have broken bones in their cages, and some flocks have up to half with broken bones at the time of slaughter."

Chickens frequently suffer from salmonella, and are regularly given antibiotics for this and other diseases. But the virus continues on in their flesh and in their eggs and in the humans who eat them.

Curbing of natural instincts - such as dust bathing, foraging, nesting and laying eggs in privacy, are impossible in a battery cage. Konrad Lorenz, biological scientist, noted that: "Under these circumstances hens will undoubtedly hold back their eggs for as long as possible. Their instinctive reluctance to lay eggs amidst a crowd of their cage mates is certainly as great as the one of civilised people to defecate in an analogous situation". Lack of an outlet for natural instincts causes stress and abnormal or aggressive behaviour.

Debeaking - In the cages, amongst so many other hens, she is frustrated by being unable to establish a pecking order, leading to more aggressive pecking, and may wound and be wounded by her frustrated cell mates. However, it is more likely that she will be unable to inflict any real harm because she has been debeaked as a chick. Battery hens are debeaked with a hot machine blade, sometimes because a young beak will often grow back. Zoologist Prof. F W Brambell found that "Between the horn and bone of the beak is a thick layer of highly sensitive tissue, resembling the 'quick' of the human nail. The hot knife.. cuts through this complex of horn, bone and sensitive tissue, causing severe pain." (1) Debeaking impairs the hen's ability to eat, drink, wipe her beak, and preen normally, and may leave her in constant pain (5).

Forced Moult - She may be starved of food and water in order to make her moult - a short moult is supposed to offset the 'of the lay' period that normally ensues a normal moult, but she may still stop laying and be slaughtered. Code of Practice recommends food and water should not be withheld for longer than 24 hours.
Stress - She has been debeaked because her life is such an unnatural one that it induces inordinate amounts of stress. If she had been allowed to wander, scratch, and peck, get exercise and interact with others of their species, such abnormal behaviour would not have developed. A witness quoted in Animal Liberation describes one factory farm thus: "Walk into the pullet house and the reaction is immediate - complete pandemonium. The squawking is loud and intense as some 20,000 birds shove to the farthest side of their cages in fear of the human intruders". Living with this level of fear can only be stressful to the birds.

Premature death - 50 percent of chickens hatched are male, so they are killed. Code recommends that they be gassed with Carbon dioxide, but some are simply thrown into the grinding machine or have their necks broken Roosters are not kept for meat, as is commonly thought.

Eventually our typical battery hen will, mercifully perhaps, become a 'spent hen'. Despite her year of ceaseless egg production under the cruelest of conditions, possibly in constant fear and pain, she will be deprived of food for the last day or so of her life, for what use is it to waste money feeding a bird that is no longer producing? She will be pulled from her cage with the others, thrust into crates and transported, without food or water, often over long distances, to a slaughterhouse. Her low economic value means she is even less likely to receive humane treatment during transportation, unloading and handling. As with all poultry slaughter, pre-stunning through an electrified water bath can be unreliable and some birds may be killed when still conscious. She will probably end up in cat food or flavoring potato chips and stock cubes.

Photo courtesy of Animal Watch Australia
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During transport the hens legs may slip through the holes of the crates, chopped off as the crates move about

Photo courtesy of Animal Watch Australia
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Hens are strung up fully conscious.

Photo courtesy of Animal Watch Australia
(Click Here for Larger Image)

How chickens are slaughtered. Sometimes a hen may escape death by the blade only to be plunged into boiling water alive, with its dead cell mate.

A NATIONAL REVIEW OF HEN HOUSING - ANZFAS
In 1993 a national review of hen housing conditions in Australia was undertaken. ANZFAS lobbied strongly for the banning of battery cages, as has been achieved in Switzerland. However egg industry opposition has thwarted efforts to move away from cages, and they may remain for some time in this country. Indeed ANZFAS resigned from the working party when it was clear that few hens would even be provided with the 600 sqcm space allowance (previously agreed).

In 1996, States and Territories adopted Regulations that lay down a minimum space allowance of 450sqcm for hens less than 2.4kg in weight, and of 600sqcm for hens over that weight. Most Australian laying hens are less than 2.4kg and will be housed with only 450sqcm of space.

95 per cent of commercially produced eggs in Australia are laid by battery hens.

ALTERNATIVES TO THE BATTERY CAGE - Animals Australia
Free Range: hens have access to a grassed area during the day. They return to sheds to lay eggs and for protection at night. Nests are provided in the sheds.

Barn or Deep Litter: Hens can move freely but are kept within a shed. Shared nests are provided for laying. Litter will be provided. Hens are sometimes divided into groups and placed into smaller pens within the shed for ease of access and inspection and to minimise possible aggression. The first debeaking (at 1-20 days of age) is usually permitted.

A limited number of "barn laid" poultry farmers operate throughout Australia with little support from egg industry administrative bodies. Some "barn laid" poultry farms have been 'certified' by RSPCA in Victoria and comply with set standards.

Perched or aviary: Similar to barn or deep litter but with perches, so that vertical space can be used to increase stocking density for higher production.
Currently in Australia there is only a small number of research projects on alternative systems.

HOPE FOR HENS IN EUROPE - Animals Australia
Switzerland: cages were banned in 1992. This followed a 10-year phase-out during which the government provided producers with financial incentives and practical support. One third of laying Hens in Switzerland now enjoy free-range facilities and two thirds are kept in a variety of indoor systems where their behavioural freedom is not restricted.

Sweden: insists on a minimum of 600sqcm for each bird and some form of enrichment within cages which can include nest boxes, sand baths and perches. A major part of its animal welfare scientific budget is dedicated to research into alternatives to the traditional cage.

Denmark: In Denmark the animal group Dyrenes Beskyttelse has run an extensive community awareness campaign. In tandem there has been the introduction of compulsory accurate labeling of eggs and Government financial incentives to assist egg producers to move from cages to alternatives. Now approximately 50% of Denmark's consumers boycott battery hen eggs. Only 6% of consumers chose non-caged eggs prior to these reforms.

European Union: In June 1999, the European Union announced a ground breaking decision to introduce legislation by 2002 to phase out conventional battery cages by 2012. From 2003, no further battery cages can be built, and all existing cages must be upgraded to provide an increase in space per hen from 450 sq cm to 550 sq cm.
Their report dated October 1996, confirmed that

"At present there is no ideal commercial trials of alternative systems for laying hens from a welfare point of view. Further development is necessary in all systems but enriched cages and well designed non-cage systems have already been shown to have a number of welfare advantages over battery cages in their present form."
Consumers in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands have demonstrated that they are aware of the suffering endured by battery hens, and those in the UK and Netherlands have shown that they are prepared to pay a premium for more humanely produced hens.

STILL WEDDED TO BATTERY CAGE
United States In the United States egg producers are devoted to the battery cage. Research into optimum stocking densities within cages predominates over any consideration of alternative systems. Batteries are often many tiers high and treatment of layers is amongst the worst in the world. Some layer-hen operating systems house 300,000 to 400,000 birds and hens are allocated 350sqcm (or even less) of floor space in a cage. There is no pre-stunning before slaughter - it is not economical, say the producers. The California Humane Poultry Slaughter Act of 1991, for instance, specifically excludes laying hens.

"Laying Hens which are used to produce eggs ....spend their whole lives in battery cages...the severe restriction of movement is cruel and the ...Plaintiffs are culpably responsible for that cruel practice"" The Hon. Justice Bell, McLibel Case.
New Zealand Of New Zealand's 2.2 million commercial layer hens, most are in battery cages under similar conditions to those in Australia. In addition to debeaking, NZ Hens have the middle front toe partially amputated in an attempt to reduce injury to the other birds in the cage.

In October 1995, New Zealand parliamentary officials rejected a large number of signatures on a petition to have the government hold a referendum on the battery hen issue due to invalid and incomplete signatures and addresses. As a result the required 10 percent was not attained. The NZ Citizens Initiated Referendum Act states that 10 percent of the registered voters must petition in order for a referendum to be held. General awareness of the battery hen issue has increased in New Zealand, and the Woolworths supermarket chain has recorded an increase in free-range egg sales from 5 to 20 percent.

HOPE FOR HENS IN AUSTRALIA ?
In August, 1999, the Tasmanian Agricultural Minister called for other State and Territory Ministers to support a 5 year phase out period for battery cages in Australia, commencing from 2006, an increase in space per hen prior to this and during the phase out, and a move to more accurate labeling of all egg cartons.
At the August ARMCANZ meeting, the Agricultural Ministers of Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT supported this proposal. The other four ministers did not support the proposal, so the consensus decision meant that the proposal to phase out the battery cage was rejected. However, the meeting did agree to further consideration of the issue i.e.. A Working Group was set up to:

* Clarify the European Union Directive

* Make recommendations relating to the labeling of egg cartons. Make recommendations on and any necessary changes to the existing Code of Practice for hen housing.

Animals Australia (the umbrella organisation of many animal organisations in Australia) and the RSPCA have made submissions to the Working Group.
The Queensland Egg Farmers Association has taken the initiative in truthful labeling by labeling their battery eggs as follows: Fresh eggs produced in a caged system in accordance with the Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - Domestic Poultry (Edition 3 - 1995)

This is certainly a step in the right direction. However Animal Liberation believes (and members of the scientific and judicial system have agreed) that the Model Code of Practice is inadequate as it cannot be enforced legally and it does not provide sufficient consideration for the behavioural needs of hens.
What you can do

1. Avoid buying eggs or reduce your intake. All commercial egg production methods involve cruelty. Approximately half of the chickens born are male which are killed. Hens in all systems are only kept up to 15 months before they are killed and replaced with younger layers. This is much less than half the normal life span of a hen.

2. If you are a consumer of eggs, only buy Queensland Free Range Eggs - the ones with the Free Range Poultry Association of Queensland logo (www.freerangepoultry.org). While they cost up to $1 more per dozen to produce (more labor and land required), distributors and supermarket chains often add an even greater markup. However it is essential that egg consumers are willing to pay this to reduce the suffering of hens.
IF WE JUST KEEP BUYING THE CHEAPEST EGGS, THE SUFFERING OF 11 MILLION HENS DAILY WILL CONTINUE.

3. Talk to your supermarket managers, if you can't find free range eggs or they are on a shelf that is difficult to reach. Encourage management to give at least equal space to eggs from the three main production methods - battery, barn and free range.

4. Ask restaurant owners if they use free range eggs and establish that they know what they are. Refuse to eat food that includes eggs from battery caged hens.

5. Write to the Queensland Minister for Primary Industries, who supported the phasing out of the battery cage at the August ARMCANZ meeting. Thank him for his stance and encourage him to continue to persuade the Ministers from the states who are unsupportive of the inevitability of the ban -the sooner the better.
Finally, Are Hens Conscious?

British animal behaviour researcher Marion Stamp Dawkins who conducted "consciousness" experiments with hens. She and her colleagues observed that hens have priority needs. They do not readily squeeze through very narrow spaces, and while they would avoid using a very narrow gap to reach food or companions, they would squeeze through it to reach a nesting box when feeling the urge to lay. They would also squeeze through the gap to get to a floor covered with a material suitable for dust bathing or scratching in. This is further proof (if it were needed) that millions of battery hens are denied fulfillment of their strongest feelings - the desire for nests in which to lay their eggs and earth or litter for scratching in and dust bathing.

"The freedom to move (stretch, flap, ruffle feathers, preen and scratch are all basic behavioural instincts of poultry); freedom from fractures (a physiological need), freedom to peck for food; freedom from pecking; freedom from painful debeaking; the right to own a beak; the right to scratch; freedom from claw and foot damage; freedom to dust bathe are all basic behavioural or physiological needs. They are demanded by the code of practice. It seems apparent that hen farming is clearly in breach of that part of the code....the hens are kept in conditions so bad, that they are useless and put down after little more than a year in the cages, after about one third of the normal life span of a hen. This is a good measure of the savagery of the system." Magistrate Michael Ward, Reasons for Decision of Magistrate Ward, 18th February, 1997