An Eggs-ellent Video!

Battery cages allow each hen smaller than the space of a piece of loose leaf paper. The hen cannot spread her wings or turn around. Often, she is buried in excrement, droppings from birds in cages above her. Battery cage facilities can house hundreds of thousands of birds that are subjected to cruel practices such as debeaking and forced molting through starvation (makes them lay eggs more frequently). Dead birds get lost in the masses and rot away, left in the cages alongside birds still laying eggs. No wonder that the phasing out of battery cages is already underway! Last summer, The Humane Society of the United States and the United Egg Producers came together to support legislation that, if passed, will require “enriched” cages that are almost double in size and include perching and nesting areas.

Cage-Free? Free-Range?
The egg industry is duping millions of consumers with its cute little pictures of barns and happy hens on egg cartons, and with words like “all-natural” and “vegetarian-fed” to make everyone think the eggs are coming from well-cared for hens. So here’s the breakdown on what the labels mean:

• Cage-Free Eggs
  The hens aren’t in cages. Unfortunately, they’re still crammed in large hen houses. They still are subjected to debeaking and forced molting, and still are pumped up with antibiotics. And ammonia levels in these facilities from all the waste are at levels that would knock a person over — the hens and the human workers are suffering! Cage-free is not 100% cruelty-free, but it’s a start, so I commend large companies and campuses that spend the extra money to switch from battery-cage eggs to cage-free.
• Free-Range Eggs
  The hens are free to roam inside barns or warehouses and have some degree of outdoor access, but there are no requirements about how much time the hens actually get to be in the open air. Since they are not caged, they can engage in many natural behaviors such as nesting and foraging. However, there still are no restrictions on what the birds can be fed, and debeaking and forced molting are permitted. Finally, under USDA regulations as they are now, there is no required third-party auditing of free-range facilities. Basically, we’re just taking their word for it that they’re meeting the standards. Self-regulation… never a good idea.

Two more important considerations, for all three scenarios:

• Twenty million male chicks each month are killed immediately because the egg industry has no use for them. General practice is to throw them — still alive and conscious —  into a macerator, which grinds them up. However, it is not uncommon for male chicks to die of suffocation in plastic bags, discarded into the dumpsters to die. So, even in free-range facilities, millions of chicks are suffering.
• “Spent” hens — those who can no longer lay eggs. Once a hen reaches this stage of her life, the egg industry has no use for her. So a hen who has spent her entire life in such miserable conditions, all to provide us with eggs, is sent to slaughter.

Backyard Chickens
I know some wonderful people who are raising hens in their own backyards and enjoying their eggs. For some, the hens become “pets” and are treated with lots of tender, loving, care. Here’s my question: what happens when the hens stop laying eggs? I don’t know anyone personally who has met this crossroads yet. And there’s still also the question of what’s happening to all the male chicks. Personally, I’d rather see hens — and all animals — living out their lives without being put to the task of serving our needs. The best backyard chicken story I know: a British family I met during my summer travel in Zimbabwe opens their home to rescued “spent” hens. LOVE it.

Easy Egg Substitutions
It’s never been so easy to break the egg habit, with ample egg substitutes available for all your baking and cooking needs. Check back with me tomorrow for super-easy substitutes.

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