1. Welfare of Battery and Free Range Chickens
Shara & Tom Ruland

2. What is a battery cage?
In the United States battery cages are the main way of housing egg layers. The recommended dimensions include each chicken having from 430 to 560 cm2 floor space.
Historic Battery-cage use

3. What does it mean to be free range?
“Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”
So what does that actually mean?

4. Alternative Housing

6. Battery cages across the world
Switzerland was the first country to ban battery cages in 1992.
Germany banned use in 2007, 5 years earlier than the EU.
The European Union has banned the use of battery cages in 2012.
Only furnished cages or free range housing are allowed.

7. Enforcing Cage Bans
In the European Union the Animal Health and Veterinary Agency test batches of eggs to be sure they are from non-battery cages. They use ultraviolet light to check for wire marks left before the egg hardens completely.

8. United States Attempts on Bans
California has been the only state to ban battery cages.
In 2013 there was a bill called the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2013 which would have revised provisions concerning housing and treatment of egg-laying hens and enforce such requirements but the bill never went through.
Colbert Report on Chicken Cages

9. Stress Response

10. Physical Health & Safety
Osteoporosis
Beak trimming
Forced moulting
Chick Culling

11. Mental Health & Enrichment
Light Manipulation
Stereotypies
Feather pecking
Cannibalism
Vent-pecking

12. Egg Safety Quality concerns with free-range eggs… Sanitary issues
Higher risk of salmonella

13. Egg Quality
No significant difference between caging styles in regard to :
Egg size
Nutritional quality
Shell quality

14. Brown vs. white eggs
Does anyone know the difference between brown and white eggs?

15. What do the labels mean?
Free Range - have access to the outside and are not in cages
Natural - product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed
Organic - product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.

16. Continued
Vegetarian - hens eat all-grain feed with no animal by-products
Pasture/Farm raised - no official standards exist
Hormone/antibiotic free - empty claim, no hormones or antibiotics are used in producing eggs for human consumption
Omega-3 - hens were given feed that boosts the levels of omega-3 fatty acid in their eggs
Grade - Department of Agriculture grading is voluntary and companies pay for it. It shows eggs are above average quality and are washed and sanitized.

18. Works Cited http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/catalog/33234