Battery cage
Battery cages are a housing system used by factory farms for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected, in a unit, as in an artillery battery. Although the term is usually applied to poultry farming, similar cage systems are used for other animals. Battery cages have generated controversy between advocates for animal welfare and industrial producers.
Battery cages in practice
Robotic cages are the predominant form of housing for laying hens worldwide. They reduce aggression and cannibalism among hens, but are barren, restrict movement, prevent many natural behaviours, and increase rates of osteoporosis.The design of battery cages restricts the movement of hens and limits their ability to perform a range of natural behaviors, including walking, wing flapping, dust bathing, nesting, and foraging. The confined environment and lack of environmental enrichment have been associated in scientific studies with increased incidences of abnormal behaviors such as feather pecking. To reduce injuries resulting from pecking, beak trimming is commonly practiced in caged egg production systems.
As of 2014, approximately 95 percent of eggs in the United States were produced in battery cages. In the United Kingdom, statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs indicate that 50% of eggs produced in the UK throughout 2010 were from cages.
EU ban on battery-caged hens
The Council of the European Union Directive 1999/74/EC banned conventional battery cages in the EU starting in January 2012 for welfare reasons, leading to a significant decrease in the number of eggs from battery cages in the EU. The 2012 battery cage ban was publicised as heralding an end to caged hens throughout Europe, but it created a widely held misconception that all laying hens in the UK are now either free-range or barn birds. That is not the case; although battery cages are illegal, farmers have skirted the ban by providing slightly bigger cages with "enrichment" such as perches. The hens in these conditions are now called "ex-cage colony hens".Other examples of caged animals
Battery cages are also used for mink, rabbit, chinchilla and fox in fur farming, and most recently for the Asian palm civet for kopi luwak production of coffee.History
An early reference to battery cages appears in Milton Arndt's 1931 book, Battery Brooding, where he reports that his cage flock was healthier and had higher egg production than his conventional flock. At this early date, battery cages already had the sloped floor that allowed eggs to roll to the front of the cage, where they were easily collected by the farmer and out of the hens' reach. Arndt also mentions the use of conveyor belts under the cages to remove manure, which provides better air control quality and reduces fly breeding.Original battery cages extended the technology used in battery brooders, which were cages with a wire mesh floor and integral heating elements for brooding chicks. The wire floor allowed the manure to pass through, removing it from the chicks' environment and reducing the risk of manure-borne diseases.
Early battery cages were often used for selecting hens based on performance since it is easy to track how many eggs each hen is laying if only one hen is placed in a cage. Later, this was combined with artificial insemination, giving a technique where each egg's parentage is known. This method is still used today.
Early reports from Arndt about battery cages were enthusiastic. Arndt reported:
In 1967, Samuel Duff filed a patent for "battery cages" in patent US3465722.
The use of laying batteries increased gradually, becoming the dominant method somewhat before the integration of the egg industry in the 1960s. The practice of battery cages was criticized in Ruth Harrison's landmark book Animal Machines, published in 1964.
In 1990, North and Bell reported that 75 percent of all commercial layers in the world and 95 percent in the United States were kept in cages.
By all accounts, a caged layer facility is more expensive to build than high-density floor confinement but can be cheaper to operate if designed to minimize labor.
North and Bell report the following economic advantages to laying cages:
- It is easier to care for the pullets; no birds are underfoot
- Floor eggs are eliminated
- Eggs are cleaner
- Culling is expedited
- In most instances, less feed is required to produce a dozen eggs
- Broodiness is eliminated
- More pullets may be housed in a given house floor space
- Internal parasites are eliminated
- Labor requirements are generally much reduced
- The handling of manure may be a problem
- Generally, flies become a greater nuisance
- The investment per pullet may be higher than in the case of floor operations
- There is a slightly higher percentage of blood spots in the eggs
- The bones are more fragile and processors often discount the fowl price
Legislation
Efforts are being undertaken to prohibit battery cages in countries around the world, including Bhutan, India, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico.Australia
Attempts to change the law have been an object of contention; RSPCA Australia has been officially campaigning to abolish both battery cages and furnished cages and to prohibit the sale of cage eggs ever since the 2001 revision of the Poultry Code. The 2009 Code of Practice permits the use of battery cages. A written commitment by the Federal government to review the practice was scheduled in 2010; there was no further communication. During 2013 the state government of Tasmania was planning to phase out battery cages and budgeting for financial compensation for affected farmers but this was scrapped following the 2014 election.The Australian Capital Territory prohibited battery cages in early 2014. The Greens were committed to also legally prohibit them in late 2014 in Victoria. In 2019, New South Wales Legislative Council member Emma Hurst established and chaired a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the Use of Battery Cages for Hens in the Egg Production Industry. The Inquiry recommended that all food products containing eggs from caged hens should be clearly labelled for the benefit of consumers, and a phase-out of battery cage hen farming in NSW.
Bhutan
Bhutan outlawed battery cages in 2012.Canada
In February 2016, 90 percent of egg-laying hens in Canada lived in battery cages. That month, negotiations between egg farmers, animal welfarists, and the government resulted in a moratorium on construction of new battery cages from 1 April 2017 and a gradual 15-year phaseout of battery cages towards enriched cage or cage-free systems by 2036. Activist group Mercy for Animals was pleased with the announced phaseout, but called the timetable "simply outrageous" and argued that more urgency was required; some food companies such as Cara Foods, Tim Hortons, Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Starbucks, and Subway restaurant announced they would phaseout non-cage-free eggs much sooner than 2036. As of 2024, 18% of the Canadian egg production is cage-free.European Union
In 1999, the Council of the European Union Directive 1999/74/EC banned the conventional battery cage in the EU in 2012, after a 12-year phase-out. In their 1996 report, the European Commission's Scientific Veterinary Committee condemned the battery cage, concluding:The EU Directive allows "enriched" or "furnished" cages to be used. Under the directive, enriched cages must be at least high and must provide each hen with at least of space; of this must be "usable area"the other is for a nest-box. The cage must also contain litter, perches, and "claw-shortening devices". Some animal welfare organisations, such as Compassion in World Farming, have criticised this move, calling for enriched cages to be prohibited as they believe they provide no significant or worthwhile welfare benefits compared with conventional battery cages.
Germany banned conventional battery cages in 2007, five years earlier than required by the EU Directive, and has prohibited enriched cages from 2012. Mahi Klosterhalfen of the Albert Schweitzer Foundation has been instrumental in a strategic campaign against battery cages in Germany.