Animal Welfare in the Egg Industry
Hard-boiled, scrambled, sunny side up, poached, baked, or fried, eggs are one of the most common breakfast foods in America. With 50 billion eggs being produced per year in the United States alone, the treatment and welfare of chickens being used for egg production, referred to as layers, is crucial to consider. As egg producers own and manage the majority of their business, they are able to affect the entire process of how the layers are reared, fed, housed, managed, and marketed. With this amount of control in mind, commercial egg producers have come under fire for their choice of housing system for their layers. The most common form of housing, battery cages, prevents nearly all normal behavior, including …show more content…
Hundreds of millions of chickens in the egg industry suffer from poor welfare throughout their lives, starting at hatching. “Male chicks will not mature to lay eggs and since they are not selectively bred for rapid growth and increased breast muscle (meat) as those in the broiler chicken meat industry, there is no market demand for them. As such, male chicks are considered a byproduct of egg production and are customarily killed upon hatching” (Metheringham, 2000). While the female chicks go on to have their beaks painfully trimmed and continue their lives in poor conditions, the male chicks are completely wasted after barely being alive for a full day. Furthermore, research suggests that the slaughter of the male chicks is distressful to the animal. “Methods of chick disposal include maceration (wherein live, fully conscious, and un-anesthetized chicks are inserted into high-speed grinders); exposure to carbon dioxide, argon, or a mixture of the two gases; or by use of a high-speed vacuum system that sucks chicks through a series of pipes to an electrified ‘kill plate’” (Metheringham, 2000). Male chicks are seen as completely useless to the egg industry, resulting in hundreds of millions of distressing, painful slaughters. The surviving female chicks are seemingly no better off, as they are sent to be kept in …show more content…
Of these, the overwhelming majority of layers are confined in battery cages, with very little space to move or engage in normal behaviors. These cages do not provide the layer with the proper environment. “Caged hens prior to oviposition [laying eggs] are restless, show stereotypic pacing and escape behavior, or perform ‘vacuum’ nesting activity, the expression of the motions of building a nest in the absence of appropriate nesting materials. Decades of scientific evidence suggest that hens are frustrated and distressed, and that they suffer in battery cages because there is no outlet for nesting behavior” (Baxter, 1994). Battery cages also limit the layer’s ability to perch, roost, scratch, forage, exercise, explore, and engage in comfort behavior, such as preening. The restrictions battery cages inflict on layers is damaging to their physical and psychological well being, resulting in reproductive problems, Osteoporosis, Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome (FLHS), Cage Layer Fatigue, and injurious pecking. “[It] takes a toll on the health of the hen and can lead to abnormalities of the reproductive tract and metabolic disorders such as osteoporosis and accompanying bone weakness. As caged hens are unable to exercise, problems with skeletal fragility are exacerbated, and the birds may also suffer from cage layer fatigue and liver problems” (Scientific Panel on
Hard-boiled, scrambled, sunny side up, poached, baked, or fried, eggs are one of the most common breakfast foods in America. With 50 billion eggs being produced per year in the United States alone, the treatment and welfare of chickens being used for egg production, referred to as layers, is crucial to consider. As egg producers own and manage the majority of their business, they are able to affect the entire process of how the layers are reared, fed, housed, managed, and marketed. With this amount of control in mind, commercial egg producers have come under fire for their choice of housing system for their layers. The most common form of housing, battery cages, prevents nearly all normal behavior, including …show more content…
Hundreds of millions of chickens in the egg industry suffer from poor welfare throughout their lives, starting at hatching. “Male chicks will not mature to lay eggs and since they are not selectively bred for rapid growth and increased breast muscle (meat) as those in the broiler chicken meat industry, there is no market demand for them. As such, male chicks are considered a byproduct of egg production and are customarily killed upon hatching” (Metheringham, 2000). While the female chicks go on to have their beaks painfully trimmed and continue their lives in poor conditions, the male chicks are completely wasted after barely being alive for a full day. Furthermore, research suggests that the slaughter of the male chicks is distressful to the animal. “Methods of chick disposal include maceration (wherein live, fully conscious, and un-anesthetized chicks are inserted into high-speed grinders); exposure to carbon dioxide, argon, or a mixture of the two gases; or by use of a high-speed vacuum system that sucks chicks through a series of pipes to an electrified ‘kill plate’” (Metheringham, 2000). Male chicks are seen as completely useless to the egg industry, resulting in hundreds of millions of distressing, painful slaughters. The surviving female chicks are seemingly no better off, as they are sent to be kept in …show more content…
Of these, the overwhelming majority of layers are confined in battery cages, with very little space to move or engage in normal behaviors. These cages do not provide the layer with the proper environment. “Caged hens prior to oviposition [laying eggs] are restless, show stereotypic pacing and escape behavior, or perform ‘vacuum’ nesting activity, the expression of the motions of building a nest in the absence of appropriate nesting materials. Decades of scientific evidence suggest that hens are frustrated and distressed, and that they suffer in battery cages because there is no outlet for nesting behavior” (Baxter, 1994). Battery cages also limit the layer’s ability to perch, roost, scratch, forage, exercise, explore, and engage in comfort behavior, such as preening. The restrictions battery cages inflict on layers is damaging to their physical and psychological well being, resulting in reproductive problems, Osteoporosis, Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome (FLHS), Cage Layer Fatigue, and injurious pecking. “[It] takes a toll on the health of the hen and can lead to abnormalities of the reproductive tract and metabolic disorders such as osteoporosis and accompanying bone weakness. As caged hens are unable to exercise, problems with skeletal fragility are exacerbated, and the birds may also suffer from cage layer fatigue and liver problems” (Scientific Panel on