Enriched Colony

The public hates to see hens in cages. And after years of campaigning, finally they were banned. Except they weren’t. Because the industry lobbied against giving the animals space to move freely and instead convinced the government that a switch from “battery cages” to “colony cages” is a great improvement. Reader, it is not.

Seven million hens in the UK are still in cages. They never see natural daylight; they stand on wire floors which cause injuries to their feet; they are routinely debeaked; and are still sent to slaughter in gas chambers at about 18 months. Recent investigations reveal the horror of enriched colony cages.¹

Yes, the birds have a little more space than in conventional battery cages, and minimal additions like a nest box, a perch, and a small scratch mat. But, remember the outrage as people discovered hens were allowed the same space as an A4 piece of paper? Well, birds in enriched colony cages get this plus a small postcard-size more. Such progress!

Many retailers are succumbing to pressure and removing caged eggs from their shelves, but not all have kept that promise. And eggs from caged hens are still hidden away inside cakes, fresh pasta, ready meals, and biscuits.

Farms and brands that still cage hens do not use truthful images in their marketing. They do not show the rows of cages stacked floor to ceiling inside industrial sheds. Instead, they prefer to show birds in grassy fields.²

The truth is those seven million hens cannot roam, forage, dustbathe, wing flap, or escape aggressive cage-mates. They are routinely debeaked to prevent them hurting one another, which they do because of the stressful conditions. They are selectively bred to lay unnaturally high numbers of eggs, leading to osteoporosis, bone fractures, and organ failure. Male chicks are killed at hatch because they cannot lay eggs.³