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Make a choice
Battery cages
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Help the RSPCA get hens out of cages!
Introduction
What does it mean to be one of the 11.6 million battery-caged
hens in Australia? Battery hens are kept on average for a year in
wire mesh cages only 40 cm high with a minimum floor area per bird of 450
cm2 - about three-quarters of the size of an A4 piece of paper.
Battery cages do not allow the hens to stand properly, preen their
feathers, stretch out or flap their wings. Battery hens cannot
perch, cannot roost, cannot dustbathe, cannot forage for food and
cannot satisfy their urge to lay their eggs in a nest.
The welfare of the battery-caged layer hen is the most
compromised of all farm animals. In Australia, millions of battery
hens are housed in conditions that would be unacceptable for any
other species of livestock.
Continuous suffering
Preventing hens from performing these natural behaviours causes
immense frustration. The restricted movement and lack of exercise
in battery cages also causes skeletal and muscle weakness, and the
cages' mesh floors and lack of perches can cause serious muscle
damage. In short, the scientific evidence indicates that battery
hens suffer intensely and continuously throughout their
confinement in cages.
The evidence
Evidence from research suggests that "battery
cages cause suffering to hens in at least 7 different ways":
Chronic frustration of normal behaviours including
dustbathing and wing-flapping
Chronic inhibition of comfort behaviours and increased
incidence of frustration behaviours
Chronic stress and disruption of social interaction
Acute suffering during the pre-laying period every day
caused by frustration of nesting behaviour
Prevention of foraging and feather pecking
Inability to maintain bone strength due to restriction of
exercise
Lack of perching opportunities and prevention of roosting.
Humane alternatives
There are humane alternatives to the battery cage system in the
form of barn and free-range housing systems. These systems
overcome the problems associated with confinement in battery cages
by allowing hens to behave naturally. Well-designed alternative
systems provide hens with space to roam and forage, perches,
litter, suitable material for dustbathing, secluded areas for
laying eggs and allow the hens to preen, stretch out and flap
their wings: all behaviours which are frustrated in the battery
cage. They also make use of the bird's ability to fly by providing
elevated terraces and perches.
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