In a natural environment, chicks will form close bonds with their mothers before they even hatch, chirping back and forth with each other while baby is still in their egg.

Sadly, chicks born within the egg industry never get to meet their mothers. ‘Parent birds’ are farmed in sheds where they are forced to breed. Their fertilized eggs are taken away and incubated until they hatch.

Newly hatched male chicks are considered to be unwanted waste products by the industry because they cannot be farmed for their eggs. Because of this, they are killed within a day of hatching.

The method in which male chicks are killed in particularly brutal: sent along a conveyor belt and dropped into spinning blades to be ground up while they are still alive and conscious.

While less common, it is also standard practice for newborn male chicks to be killed in gas chambers. There is no requirement to offer male baby chicks pain relief or any form of stunning.

It is estimated that upward of 2.5-million-day-old male chicks are killed every year by Aotearoa’s egg industry.

Overcrowded conditions and the inability to carry out natural behaviours in cages can cause hens to experience high levels of anxiety, stress, boredom, and fear. This can lead to aggressive behaviours like pecking, feather pulling, cannibalism and death. Submissive, sick or injured hens have nowhere in the cage to hide from aggressive hens and will endure pain, fear and injuries without intervention.

The physical health of hens in cages is typically poor. Disease, parasites, severe feather

loss and brittle bones (weakened from lack of movement) are just some of the ailments that characterise the health of caged hens. The crowded and unsanitary conditions inside colony cages exacerbate the risk of the hens developing respiratory and eye health problems due to high levels of ammonia and faecal dust.

Due to selective breeding, a commercially farmed hens will lay around 300 eggs per year, a substantial increase from the 12 to 20 laid by her wild counterpart. High levels of calcium are required for this continuous egg production, which increases the likelihood of bone fragility and osteoporosis in intensively farmed hens. In some cases, calcium deficiency and structural bone loss can lead to cage layer fatigue – a syndrome characterised by spontaneous fractures, exposure of the spinal cord and paralysis. These bone conditions are determined by the extent to which a hen can move and exercise. If hens affected by cage layer fatigue are not allowed to walk freely, they will likely die from dehydration and starvation.

The design of colony cages and the way in which hens are handled play an important role in the welfare of hens. Hens’ feet can become easily trapped in the wire mesh of cages, making them more susceptible to injury and foot disorders such as bumblefoot and overgrown claws. The lack of abrasive substrates that would naturally keep claws short, alongside poor hygiene and perch materials, exacerbate this risk.

Hens can also incur significant levels of trauma and bone breakage from rough handling. With the already fragile bone condition of caged hens, the pain associated with this level of physical damage is likely to be severe.

Beak trimming is the invasive procedure of removing the tip of a hen’s beak to blunt or round its end. It is done without the use of pain relief or sedation and can cause hens to experience stress, acute and chronic pain and lifelong disfigurements.

This cruel practice was designed to mitigate some of the serious animal welfare issues commercially farmed hens are subjected to. The unnatural and highly stressful living conditions on commercial farms can cause hens to become stressed and engage in aggressive behaviours such as feather pecking. This is where birds peck at and pull out each other’s feathers, which can lead to pain, severe injuries, infections, cannibalism and death.

Beak trimming is common practice in New Zealand and is done to hens used for all commercial farming systems including cage, barn and free-range.

Due to its cruel nature and potential for lifelong welfare issues, beak trimming has been banned in several countries around the world, including Finland, with 3 in 4 farmers condemning the practise as unnecessary and unethical.

New Zealand banned battery cages on January 1st, 2023. They were banned because their use was found to be in breach of the Animal Welfare Act 1999, which requires animals be given the ability to express normal patterns of behaviour. Colony cages remain legal and in use in New Zealand despite also preventing hens from expressing normal patterns of behaviour.

One battery cage could contain up to eight hens, providing each hen 550cm2 of space each, that’s smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. In comparison, colony cages are larger cages capable of housing up to 80 hens. In a colony cage, hens are allowed just 750cm2 of space each – that’s only a little larger than an A4 sheet of paper.

Hens in battery cages were not provided any form of enrichment but were allowed access to food and water. Colony cages feature metal perches, a small rubber pad, and flaps that are supposed to function as a “nest area”. With so many hens cramped into one colony cage, competing for access to these “enrichments” can lead to stress, frustration, and aggression between hens.

Like battery caged hens, hens in colony cages are prevented from expressing many of their most basic natural instincts and behaviours. Colony caged hens cannot engage in exploratory behaviours such as roaming, scratching and digging at the earth, dust bathing, sun basking or nest building. With so little space, colony caged hens cannot move around freely, fully stretch their wings, fly, nor can they escape from aggressive flock mates.

New Zealand has three commercial farming methods: cage, barn and free-range.

Cage (currently sold under the misleading label ‘Colony’ or ‘Colony laid’)

• Caged for life, with no access to the outdoors, fresh air, grass or sunlight.
• Up to 80 hens in one cage, each hen is allowed just 750cm2 of space each (around the size of an A4 sheet of paper).
• Beaks are partially removed.
• Killed at 18 months old.

Barn

• Farmed indoors for life, with no access to the outdoors, fresh air, grass or sunlight.
• One barn will contain thousands of hens, allowing up to seven hens per square metre.
• Overcrowded conditions, high stocking densities, and the inability to express many normal patterns of behaviour are known to cause hens to experience a range of health and welfare issues.
• Beaks are partially removed.
• Killed at 18 months old.

Free-range

• Farmed indoors in barns and allowed access to the outdoors during the daytime.
• Free-range operations may farm tens of thousands of hens in highly intensive and overcrowded conditions. High stocking densities are common practice, with up to 9 hens per square metre indoors. Outdoors, up to 2,500 hens farmed per hectare (four hens per square metre).
• Beaks are partially removed.
• Killed at 18 months old.

All commercial egg farming systems are deeply flawed and cause suffering to hens. The best thing you can do to help hens is to make the switch to plant-based egg alternatives, and the options are delicious, affordable, healthy and endless!

Colony cages are already banned or being phased out of use in several states across North America, cities in South America and many parts of Europe. The list includes US states Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington. South American cities Quito and Ecuador. In Europe; Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia.