Every year Hong Kong imports and consumes more than 1.5 billion eggs making it the second largest egg importer in the world. The majority of these are produced in battery farming systems that do not allow chickens the freedom for natural behaviour. Even the most simple of behaviours such as the ability to flap their wings or to perch are denied.
The SPCA is deeply concerned for the welfare of these millions of chickens and we want the people of Hong Kong to join us to reduce this unnecessary suffering. The truth is that farming techniques and egg production are led by us, the consumers, so the power is in our hands to make a difference. We ask that you consider buying eggs produced from non-battery systems, such as cage-free, barn, organic and free range. All of these systems provide different levels of enrichments and freedoms for chickens and we hope you can learn more about them on this website. Please read below for some of the welfare concerns associated with intensive egg farming and also visit the other pages on this website to learn about the different categories of eggs and the different standards in the different countries that export to Hong Kong.
The human race has a huge demand for chicken eggs and farmers have always been developing more efficient and productive methods of producing eggs to meet this demand. In the USA in the 1930's, the battery cage system was developed. Tests at the time showed that battery cage systems could produce more eggs with lower manpower and chicken feed, and they were therefore more cost effective. The new system automated egg farming by using different conveyor belts to supply food and remove waste, while a confined cage with a sloping bottom causes produced eggs to roll to collectors. The fact that the birds were kept indoors allowed better control over temperatures, lighting and enabled higher production through the year.
The system spread throughout the USA and the rest of the world, and by the 1960's the battery cage system was the dominant form of egg farming and by 1990 it was reported that 75% of the world's egg layers were kept in cages. China and parts of Asia were amongst the last areas to adopt industrial scale battery chicken operations, China increasing its egg production by a factor of 10 since the 1980's.
Today, industrial egg manufacture can be found the world over, made up of huge farms that can house many millions of chickens each. Globally there is an estimated 6 billion layers, with 60% farmed in battery cage systems.
However there is increasing concern for the welfare of these chickens because of the cramped conditions, lack of enrichment and some of the common practices such as debeaking. Alternatives farming methods for eggs have increased in popularity, these include the enriched cages, cage-free farming, free range and organic. All of these farming methods do carry some welfare concerns, an unavoidable fact of producing eggs on a large scale. Examples of welfare concerns with large-scale egg production include:
- Restriction of natural behaviours due to confinement/shortage of space/lack of enrichment
- Foot problems
- Feather plucking and debeaking
- Forced molting
This is one of the greatest welfare concerns for the world's egg laying chickens. Animal welfare laws in many countries cite the '5 freedoms', one of which is the 'freedom to behave naturally'. Research has shown that hens have a strong preference for laying their eggs in a nest and are highly motivated to perform nesting behaviour. Hens also show a strong preference for a littered floor both for pecking and scratching and for dust-bathing, and a preference to perch, especially at night. Battery caging prevents all of this as the hens are kept in barren cages without perches or litter, and are so confined that they cannot even flap their wings.
In Europe, as a result of increased pressure to improve welfare, conventional battery cages will become illegal in 2012. Caged chickens will still be allowed but they will have to be to be kept in 'enriched cages' that allow slightly more room for the hens, and include nest boxes, litter and perches. Although a step in the right direction to address behavoural freedoms, these cages are still unsatisfactorily small.
Cage-free chicken farming, also know as 'Barn Chickens', are chickens that are kept loose in huge warehouses. These chickens have the freedom to move about, and are provided with perches and nests. However space is usually very limited and standards are very variable.
Free range systems allow hens to express natural behaviours to a much greater extent. Unfortunately the standards and terminology are variable between countries, but in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, free range chickens have daily access to large outdoor areas. This enables them to dust bath, forage for food, flap their wings and move freely. Organic chicken farms as defined as those that do not use hormones, herbicides or pesticides, also use free range systems.
Chickens kept in battery cages often develop severe foot injuries as these conventional cages have wire flooring. Due to the lack of a suitable substrate hen's claws often become overgrown and can become wrapped around the wire flooring preventing movement. Enriched, cage-free, and free range systems include claw wearing surfaces and perches to minimise foot problems.
The exact causes of feather pecking are not known, but may include redirection of foraging behaviour, genetic predisposition, plumage colour variation in target animals, light intensity, food access and composition, and stocking density. Once feather pecking begins, it is very difficult to stop, and can quickly escalate into cannibalism that may result in death. The problem was first encountered in cage environments but it can be as prevalent, or even worse, in uncaged environments in which group sizes can't be controlled.
One solution to the problem is debeaking which was is a technique that was developed in the 1930's, about the same time as the battery cage. Debeaking is the cutting off of the tip of the beak, a process that causes stress, short-term and possibly long-term pain. The ability to consume food can be reduced as the chicken learns to cope with the shortened beak. This suffering has often been considered acceptable when balanced with the suffering in the flock if the birds are not debeaked.
Debeaking is often done with a hot blade, and needs to be done by an experienced person to minimise suffering. More recently an infra red beam has been used by some farms and this has shown to reduce the suffering.
The practice can occur in all types of farm, whether battery, barn of free range accredited. Thankfully it is being phased out in some countries as studies have shown there are methods to keep beaked chickens and still reduce cannibalism. Some good references to these studies can be found at the Compassion in World Farming website.
Humane ways of reducing or preventing feather plucking and cannibalism include selecting docile strains of uniform colour, providing escape areas, removal of aggressors and avoidance of sudden changes of food composition. The only way to be sure if your eggs come from debeaked hens or not is to research the policies of the originating farm.
Forced molting is cruel process to artificially cause farm chickens to molt. The process involves a severe reduction in food (or starvation) for up to 14 days (so that the chicken lose about 35% of their body weight). Some birds die during this process, but those that molt and recover show improved egg production and quality afterwards. Forced molting is illegal in Europe and in Australia and New Zealand, methods of forced molting are controlled (birds are not allowed deprivation of food for longer than 24hrs). It is widespread and unregulated in the USA and many other parts of the world.