A COK Report:
Animal Suffering in the Egg Industry
Summary
In the United States, more than 300 million laying hens produce eggs, the majority
of whom are confined in small, wire cages known as "battery cages."
These "battery hens" suffer from a number of debilitating welfare
problems, including the thwarting of natural behaviors, bone weakness and breakage,
feather loss, and numerous diseases.
The life of a battery hen begins in a commercial hatchery, where thousands
of chicks are hatched in industrial incubators. Male chicks are of no value
to the egg industry and are killed shortly after birth, usually by gassing,
crushing, or suffocation. The female chicks have part of their beaks seared
off with a hot blade. This "beak trimming" is performed without anesthesia
or analgesia. Chickens have pain receptors in their beaks, and research has
shown that hens likely experience both acute and chronic pain as a result of
"beak trimming." After this procedure, the chicks are transported
to indoor egg farms and placed in battery cages.
Each wire battery cage normally houses three to ten hens. A typical U.S. egg
farm contains thousands of cages at an average density of 59 square inches of
space per bird (just over half the area of a letter-sized sheet of paper). Hens
need an average of 72 square inches just to stand erect, 178 inches to preen,
197 inches to turn around, and 291 inches to flap their wings. Thus, hens in
battery cages cannot perform any of these important natural behaviors, nor can
they perch, preen, dustbathe, or nest. As a consequence, hens show signs of
severe frustration and low welfare.
Battery cages contribute to a number of health problems, including uterine
prolapse (when the uterus is pushed outside the body of a hen), foot disorders
caused by the slanted wire floors of most battery cages, and Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic
Syndrome. Because a large amount of calcium goes into egg production, almost
all battery hens suffer from osteoporosis, which is exacerbated by lack of exercise
in cages.
At the end of their laying cycle, most hens in U.S. egg factory farms are "forced
molted," or purposefully starved for 10 to 14 days, to induce another laying
cycle. Forced molting can double the mortality of a flock and is believed to
cause significant suffering among birds. After the second laying cycle, battery
hens are gathered and transported to slaughter plants. At the plants, the hens
are shackled by their legs and hung upside-down on a long conveyer belt. Shackling
often breaks the hens' fragile bones; by the time of slaughter, close to half
of the birds have suffered broken bones. The hens are then submerged into an
electrified water bath, which is supposed to render them unconscious, but many
birds have their throats slit while fully conscious. Birds are not protected
by the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and are thus not required to
be unconscious before being killed.
Standard industry practices cause battery hens to experience both acute and
chronic pain. The treatment of these animals would be illegal if anti-cruelty
laws applied to farmed animals. But, profits have taken priority over animal
welfare.
Full report with citations.
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