The British Veterinary Association (BVA), alongside the British Veterinary Poultry Association (BVPA), is calling for enriched cages for laying hens – spaces which are just slightly bigger than an A4 piece of paper per hen – to be phased out due to their negative impact on the welfare of the animals.
The UK is estimated to produce 12.5 billion eggs per year with a national flock of just over 40 million laying hens. Although ‘barren’ battery cages are banned in the UK, hundreds of thousands of laying hens are still kept in restrictive ‘enriched cages’ and their eggs are still on supermarket shelves.
Other laying hens are kept in cage-free environments, such as barn housing, free range or organic systems.
Recent research from BVA’s Voice of the Veterinary Profession survey showed that more than 85% of vets are concerned about the use of cages for laying hens and the impact on welfare, with the main concern being that the cages inhibit natural behaviour.
Alongside its specialist division, the BVPA, BVA has looked at these housing systems through an animal welfare lens and concluded that, while enriched cages meet some basic needs, they deliver significantly poorer welfare outcomes than cage-free systems and should be phased out.
In a new joint policy position on the housing systems used for laying hens, both associations also recommend that any ban must be supported by a clearly staged and adequately funded transition period, aligned with developments in the EU, to maintain a level playing field for producers.
BVA president Dr Rob Williams MRCVS said: “Although the majority of UK egg production is already cage-free, many members of the public will be shocked to learn that there are still a significant number of laying hens spending their whole laying lives in cages with little opportunity to express natural behaviours or spread their wings.
“With much of the UK already moving towards cage-free systems such as organic, barn housing or free-range, we’re calling for the UK Government to phase out cages entirely to help improve the welfare of hundreds of thousands of birds.
“However, it must not be forgotten that these alternative systems have their own challenges which must also be addressed to ensure the continued welfare improvement for our nation’s laying hens.”
BVPA junior vice president Adrian Knoetze added: “This position paper highlights the various welfare impacts of different housing systems for laying hens.
“Farms and veterinarians continue to focus on improving the welfare of hens regardless of the housing system and with the market transitioning to non-caged systems a ban is reasonable. In addition, it emphasises the risk that a ban on enriched cages in the UK could result in exporting welfare concerns abroad.”
