Cage Free = Cruelty Free?

As mentioned in an earlier post, a few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the launch of the Choose Wisely campaign breakfast at Parliament House. After seeing a video on the fight to have battery cages banned, particularly in the ACT, we were invited to enjoy our breakfast which included, naturally, free-range eggs which, we were assured, were ‘cruelty-free’.

Now I am the first to urge consumers to buy free-range eggs in place of cage eggs. I have previously been involved with the Free Range Canberra campaign run by Animal Liberation ACT. Even so, there is no way that I could ever describe either barn-laid or free-range eggs as ‘cruelty-free’.

Let’s put aside for the sake of this argument the sad fact that many eggs sold as free-range are simply not. To my way of thinking, if eggs are labelled ‘cage’ you can be sure that the hens who laid them have lived in hell whereas eggs labelled ‘free-range’ mean that there is at least a good chance that the hens had some freedom during their short life.

But let’s go back to the start of the process. Whether layer hens are to spend their lives in cages, barns or with access to grass outdoors they all come from the same hatcheries. The fertilised eggs that are used by these hatcheries are laid by breeder hens who spend their shortened lives in sheds similar to broiler sheds. The hens lead stressful lives with an unnaturally high mating rate. In a more natural flock, the proportion of roosters to hens is much lower than the proportions maintained by these commercial breeders. Frequent matings result in severe feather wear and injury for the hens. Also, it is not uncommon for breeders to kill all the roosters after several weeks and replace them with young roosters to accelerate the rate of fertilisation. For an insight into layer breeder sheds see http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmTHILGL1M

‘Worn-out’ breeders go to be slaughtered for second quality foods.

On hatching, about half the chicks are male. These males are of no value so are killed – either by being tossed into a bin to be gassed or by being thrown into the spinning blades of a macerator.

No matter what type of production system they are destined for (cage, barn or free-range), chicks may be subjected to painful beak trimming with a hot blade.

Finally, again regardless of the system used, hens in commercial layer flocks are culled after about 15 to 18 months – their peak laying period. They are transported, often for many hours in open trucks, to be slaughtered for second grade human and pet food – or maybe just fertiliser.

Avoiding cage eggs is a good start but regardless of the egg production system used, there is no such thing as a cruelty-free commercial egg.