The professor emeritus and animal welfare chair at the University of Guelph, who has studied battery cages since the late 1960s, noted there is growing evidence of their adverse impact on hen welfare.
Dr, Duncan, who is president of the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada, said Switzerland was the first European country to ban battery cages and California the first North American jurisdiction to order they be phased out by 2015. Egg producers in Manitoba were the first Canadians to decide to phase out the cages. "I take my hat off to them."
A number of major food companies, Burger King, International House of Pancakes, Hellman’s Mayonnaise and Loblaws have also decided to purchase only non-cage produced eggs, he said. Consumers are becoming increasingly informed about animal welfare issues.
"As producers should you be getting in the forefront of these changes? If your battery cages are coming to the end of their life; should you be considering a transition?" he asked.
"There is no pressing need at this moment for producers to change; but the signs are there."
Dr. Michelle Jendral, a professor of poultry behavior and welfare at the NSAC added: "Where change was legislated they allowed a lengthy transition period. It won’t happen overnight; but change is imminent."
She continued: "I am frightened by regulation; but we have to find a system you can successfully produce in."
With battery cages, Dr. Duncan said, "we are meeting the nutritional needs of birds; but not their physiological and behavioral needs."
More than 90 per cent of North American laying hens are kept in battery cages. He noted that following their widespread adoption in the 1960s, there was an immediate benefit—a dramatic drop in a wide range of poultry diseases. Before the battery cages it was not unknown to have a mortality rate of up to 25 per cent in flocks. Today, it is below six per cent.
The animal welfare chair said not only are the cages very hygienic, they give poultry barns better air quality with less dust and ammonia. They also lower the incidence of feather pecking and cannibalism.
Battery cages are also easy to automate and manage and all eggs are collected in this system. But there is "a long list of cons and it is a very serious list outweighing its welfare pros."
The restricted space and lack of amenities crowds the birds, limits or prevents normal bird behaviors and postures, Dr. Duncan said. A lack of exercise may adversely affect bone strength and the incidence of osteoporosis that leads to a higher risk of broken bones.
He said Dr Jendral is probably the Canadian expert on alternative hen housing.
She noted the European Union has banned battery cages as of 2012. Alternatives include furnished and furnishable cages that are larger than battery cages and offer access to a number of amenities: discrete nesting areas, perches, dust baths, a scratch pad for the feet and scratching areas for foraging.
Colony cages have even more spacious, furnished housing with two perches at different levels in the cages. Dr. Jendral noted the Netherlands has banned furnished cages as of 2022 in favor of colony cages.
Looking at the advantages of furnished and colony cages, she observed their wire flooring is more hygienic; they are automated and provide improved environmental conditions with less dust. They can also be stacked for higher stocking density and offer improved behavior, bone strength and lower mortality.
Dr. Jendral said the success of cage systems depends on finding the certain level of birds in a confinement system that causes behavioral problems. "We need to figure out the right group size, the right stocking density…"
