Make a choice Battery cages

Help the RSPCA get hens out of cages!

Introduction

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 only 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 dustbathe, cannot forage for food, cannot satisfy their urge to lay their eggs in a nest.

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 dustbathing 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.

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 dustbathing, 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.

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