| EGG
FACTS
Battery
Cage
There are over 5 billion laying hens in
the world, producing over 50 million
tonnes of eggs every year. Modern breeds
have been selectively bred to produce
around twice as many eggs as they did 50
years ago, with each hen laying on
average over 300 eggs in a year.
Throughout most of the
"developed" world, the majority
of laying hens are kept in battery cages,
however due to public pressure the cages
are being phased out across the EU and
have been illegal in Switzerland since
1992.
In
Australia 10 million hens live in battery
cages. These hens spend their short lives
confined in a small wire cage with
several other hens. The cage is so small
that they cannot stretch or flap their
wings and is made of bare metal and wire
so the hens have nothing to scratch or
peck. They cannot dust-bathe or lay their
eggs in a secluded nest. All these
actions are natural to a hen and not
being able to fulfill them causes a great
deal of stress and discomfort.
Wire
cage
Caged hens suffer foot
injuries
from constantly standing on wire. As they
cannot forage their claws grow long or
become deformed, and can be caught in the
wire. They also suffer broken claws and
footpad dermatitis.
Debeaking
Because of the close proximity and stress
of the battery cage, the hens become
aggressive and may attack each other. To
lessen the damage of this behaviour
battery hens are debeaked,
this mutilation involves removing a third
of the bird's beak using a red-hot blade.
The hens are debeaked as chicks when they
are 1-10 days old. The pain is immense
and causes chicks extreme shock - some
die. There are also long-term effects
because the beak contains sensitive
nerves which are exposed by cutting.
Feather loss
To feed, most caged hens stretch their
necks over wire or metal to reach the
food troughs. This often results in severe
feather loss and skin abrasions.
Hens can also lose feathers as a result
of being pecked at by their cage mates -
behaviour brought on by the stress of
confinement.
Bone Weakness
The constant demands of egg production,
coupled with the lack of opportunity for
exercise in the confines of the cage, can
cause
the hens' bones to deteriorate
and they often develop osteoporosis or
brittle bones. Up to 14-17.5% have broken
bones in the cages, and some flocks have
up to half with broken bones at the time
of slaughter.
Lighting
The
environment of a battery hen is
completely artificial.
Lighting is manipulated to stimulate hens
to lay even more eggs. The hens' bodies
are pushed to the limit, as a result
prolapse and tumours are common.
Death
Some hens die in the cages and all too
often go unnoticed until the corpse
begins to smell. The battery hen remains
caged until her high levels of egg
production drop off, usually after laying
for 12 months. She is then sent for
slaughter at about 18 months of age.
The
natural lifespan of a hen is 10 to 15
years.
Free
Range
Free
Range Chooks |
Without
question, the free-range system
gives hens a more natural
environment and the freedom to
act out normal behaviours -
offering mental and physical
welfare improvements over all
other systems. Free range hens
have access to open air and
sunlight during the day, and at
night they sleep in a shed. |
Under
Accredited Free Range
systems:
•
hens must be protected from predators at
all times;
• there must be vegetation cover and
shade on the land where the hens range;
and
• debeaking and induced moulting is
not permitted**
**
Please note that the RSPCA does NOT
require its accredited free range
producers to avoid debeaking.
SECRET
LIFE OF CHICKENS
Chickens are inquisitive, interesting and
intelligent animals. Just like dogs or
cats each chicken is an individual with a
distinct personality. Scientists are
beginning to learn more about chickens:
• Chickens are as smart as mammals,
including some primates, according to
animal behaviourist Dr Chris Evans, who
runs the animal behaviour lab at
Macquarie University, Australia. He
explains that, for example, chickens are
able to understand that recently hidden
objects still exist, which is actually
beyond the capacity of small children.
• Dr Joy Mench, Professor and
Director of the Centre for Animal Welfare
at the University of California says,
"Chickens show sophisticated social
behaviour… that's what a pecking
order is all about. They can recognise
more than a hundred other chickens and
remember them. They have more than thirty
types of vocalisations."
• In her book The Development of
Brain and Behaviour in the Chicken,
Dr Lesley Rogers, a Professor of
Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour,
concludes that chickens have cognitive
capabilities equivalent to mammals.
• Dr Christine Nicol, University of
Bristol, UK, explains, "Chickens
have shown us they can do things people
didn't think they could do. There are
hidden depths to chickens,
definitely."
More secrets about chooks:
• Chickens are able to learn by
watching the mistakes of others and are
very adept at teaching and learning.
• Chickens have more than 30
distinct cries to communicate to one
another, including separate alarm calls
depending on whether a predator is
travelling by land or air.
• A mother hen will turn her eggs as
many as five times an hour and cluck to
her unborn chicks, who will chirp back to
her and to one another from within their
shells!
• Chickens navigate by the sun.
• A hen will often go without food
and water, if necessary, just to have a
private nest in which to lay her eggs.
• Like us, chickens form strong
family ties and mourn when they lose a
loved one.
Source: PETA website
LIVING
WITHOUT EGGS
Regardless of the egg production system -
battery, barn or free range - there are
animal welfare problems with each system
(however the problems are greatly reduced
in the free range system).
The
main welfare problem is that of all
chicks born, half are male. Male chickens
do not lay eggs therefore they are
killed. Millions of day old chicks are
killed each year. This is an inescapable
problem of producing eggs. Also all
laying hens, regardless of the system,
undergo the stress of transportation and
slaughter when their egg laying
capabilities decline.
If
you find this unacceptable you may want
to consider not eating eggs at all. Eggs
are not essential to a person's well
being, nor are they essential to use as
an ingredient in cooking, there are many
substitutes for eggs. People who do not
eat eggs (or any animal products) are
called vegans.
Web
Links
Links
will open in a new window.
1998
Productivity Commission report, Battery
Eggs: Sale and Production in ACT. The
report found that a move away from the
battery cage systems would lead to an
improvement in hen welfare.
http://www.pc.gov.au/study/batthen/finalreport
Compassion
in World Farming has excellent reports on
laying hens in their publications
section:
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/publications/poultry__hens.html
European
Union (EU) site detailing the decision in
1999 to phase out Battery cages across
Europe
Click
here to view the report
Freeranger
Eggs - A Gippsland (Victoria) Free Range
producer with some interesting
information
http://www.freeranger.com.au
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