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#Post#: 24--------------------------------------------------
Battery Cage Ban - UK 2012
By: AdoptingChicks Date: May 23, 2012, 2:29 am
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In poultry farming, battery cages (often called factory farming
in the United States or battery farming in the United Kingdom)
are an industrial agricultural confinement system used primarily
for egg-laying hens. Although the term is usually applied to
poultry, similar cage systems are used in fur farming for mink,
chinchilla and foxes. The battery cage has generated controversy
among advocates for animal welfare and animal rights and
industrial egg producers.
It is estimated that over 60% of the world’s eggs are produced
in industrial systems, mostly using battery cages, including
over three quarters in the EU.[1] In the UK, statistics from
theDepartment for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) indicate that 50% of eggs produced in the UK throughout
2010 were from cages (45% from free-range, 5% from barns).[2]
An early reference to battery cages appears in Milton Arndt's
1931 book, Battery Brooding, where he reports that his cage
flock was healthier and had higher egg production than his
conventional flock.[3] At this early date, battery cages already
had the sloped floor that allowed eggs to roll to the front of
the cage, where they were easily collected by the farmer and out
of the hens' reach. Arndt also mentions the use of conveyor
belts under the cages to remove manure, which provides better
air control quality and eliminates fly breeding.[3]
Original battery cage were an extension of the technology used
in battery brooders, which were cages with a wire mesh floor and
integral heating elements for brooding baby chicks. The wire
floor allowed the manure to pass through, removing it from the
chicks' environment and eliminating manure-borne diseases.
Early battery cages were often used for selecting hens based on
performance, since it is easy to track how many eggs each hen is
laying if only one hen is placed in a cage. Later, this was
combined with artificial insemination, giving a technique where
each egg's parentage is known. This method is still used today.
Early reports from Arndt about battery cages were enthusiastic.
Arndt reported:
"This form of battery is coming into widespread use throughout
the country and apparently is solving a number of the troubles
encountered with laying hens in the regular laying house on the
floor.
In the first edition of this book I spoke of my experimental
work with 220 pullets which were retained for one year in
individual cages. At the end of this year it was found that the
birds confined in the batteries outlaid considerably the same
size flock in the regular houses. The birds consume less feed
than those on the floor and this coupled with the increased
production made them more profitable than the same number of
pullets in the laying house.[3]
A number of progressive poultrymen from all over the United
States and some in foreign countries cooperated with me in
carrying on experimental work with this type of battery and each
and every one of them were very well satisfied with the results
obtained. In fact, a number of them have since placed their
entire laying flocks in individual hen batteries."[3]
The use of laying batteries increased gradually, becoming the
dominant method somewhat before the integration of the egg
industry in the 1960s. The practice of battery cages was
criticized in the book Animal Machines, published in the
1960s.[4]
In 1990, North and Bell reported that 75% of all commercial
layers in the world and 95% in the United States were kept in
cages.[5]
By all accounts, a caged layer facility is more expensive to
build than high-density floor confinement, but can be cheaper to
operate if designed to minimize labor.
North and Bell report the following advantages to laying cages:
1. It is easier to care for the pullets; no birds are underfoot.
2. Floor eggs are eliminated. 3. Eggs are cleaner. 4. Culling is
expedited. 5. In most instances, less feed is required to
produce a dozen eggs. 6. Broodiness is eliminated. 7. More
pullets may be housed in a given house floor space. 8. Internal
parasites are eliminated. 9. Labor requirements are generally
much reduced[5]
They also cite disadvantages to cages:
1. The handling of manure may be a problem. 2. Generally, flies
become a greater nuisance. 3. The investment per pullet may be
higher than in the case of floor operations. 4. There is a
slightly higher percentage of blood spots in the eggs. 5. The
bones are more fragile and processors often discount the fowl
price.[5]
Disadvantages 1 and 2 can be eliminated by manure conveyors as
pioneered by Arndt, but some industrial systems do not feature
manure conveyors.[6]
In general, farmers and poultry scientists who have used both
floor confinement and cages do not seem to have felt that cages
were either ineffective or inhumane,[citation needed] though
there was considerable criticism of individual installations
that were too expensive or were poorly designed to yield the
all-important reduction in labor inputs.
In 1999, the European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC[7]
banned the conventional battery cage in the EU from 2012, after
a 10-year phase-out. In their 1996 report, the European
Commission's Scientific Veterinary Committee (SVC) condemned the
battery cage, concluding:
"It is clear that because of its small size and its barrenness,
the battery cage as used at present has inherent severe
disadvantages for the welfare of hens".
The EU Directive allows enriched or "furnished" cages to be
used. Under the directive, enriched cages must be at least 45 cm
high and must provide each hen with at least 750 cm² of space;
600 cm² of this must be "usable area" – the other 150 cm² is for
a nest-box. The cage must also contain litter, perches and
"claw-shortening devices". Some animal welfare organisations,
such as Compassion in World Farming, have criticised this move,
calling for enriched cages to be prohibited as they believe they
provide no significant or worthwhile welfare benefits as
compared with conventional battery cages. The use of battery
cages is banned in Belgium, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Germany
Germany has banned conventional battery cages from 2007, five
years earlier than required by the EU Directive,[8] and has
prohibited enriched cages from 2012. Mahi Klosterhalfen of the
Albert Schweitzer Foundation has been instrumental in a
strategic campaign against battery cages in Germany.[9]
Switzerland
Battery cages have been banned in Switzerland since January 1,
1992. It has been the first country to do so.[10]
United States
The passage of California Proposition 2 (2008) aimed, in part,
to reduce or eliminate the problems associated with battery
cages, by setting the standard for space relative to free
movement and wingspan, rather than cage size.
Australia
The 2009 'Code of Practice' permits the use of battery cage. A
written commitment by government to review the practice was
scheduled in 2010. There was no further communication. A recent
national survey showed that 86% of Australians believe that
battery cages are cruel.
In countries with relevant legislation, floor space for battery
cages ranges upwards from 300 cm2per bird. EU standards in 2003
called for at least 550 cm2 per hen.[12] In the US, the current
recommendation by the United Egg Producers is 67 to 86 in2 (430
to 560 cm2) per bird.[13] The space available to each hen in a
battery cage has often been described as less than the size of a
sheet of A4 paper.[14] Others have commented that a typical cage
is about the size of a filing cabinet drawer and holds eight to
10 hens.[6][15]
Behavioural studies showed that when turning, hens used 540 to
1006 cm2, when stretching wings 653 to 1118 cm2, when wing
flapping 860 to 1980 cm2, when feather ruffling 676 to 1604 cm2,
when preening 814 to 1270 cm2 and when ground scratching 540 to
1005 cm2.[16] A space allowance of 550 cm2 would prevent hens in
battery cages from performing these behaviours without touching
another hen. Animal welfare scientists have been critical of
battery cages because of these space restrictions[17] and it is
widely considered that hens suffer boredom and frustration when
unable to perform these behaviours.[18] Spatial restriction can
lead to a wide range of abnormal behaviours, some of which are
injurious to the hens or their cagemates.
Several studies have indicated that a combination of high
calcium demand for egg production and a lack of exercise can
lead to osteoporosis. This can occur in all housing systems for
egg laying hens, but is particularly prevalent in battery cage
systems where it has sometimes been called 'cage layer
osteoporosis'.[19] Osteoporosis leads to the skeleton becoming
fragile and an increased risk of bone breakage, particularly in
the legs and keel bone. Fractures may occur whilst the hens are
in the cage and these are usually discovered at depopulation as
old, healed breaks, or they might be fresh breaks which occurred
during the process of depopulation. One study showed that 24.6%
of hens from battery cages had recent keel fractures whereas
hens in furnished cages, barn and free-range had 3.6%, 1.2% and
1.3% respectively. However, hens from battery cages experienced
fewer old breaks (17.7%) compared to hens in barn (69.1%),
free-range (59.8%) and furnished cages (31.7%).[20]
To reduce the harmful effects of feather pecking, cannibalism
and vent-pecking, hens going into battery cages are
beak-trimmed, a procedure considered to cause acute pain and
distress with possible chronic pain. Beak-trimming occurs for
hens in all types of housing systems, not only battery cages.
To reduce the harmful effects of feather pecking, cannibalism
and vent-pecking, hens in battery cages (and other housing
systems) are often kept at low light intensities (e.g. less than
10 lux). Low light intensites may be associated with welfare
costs to the hens as they prefer to eat in brightly lit
environments[21] and prefer brightly lit areas for active
behaviour but dim (<10 lux) for inactive behaviour.[22] Dimming
the lights can also cause problems when the intensity is then
abruptly increased temporarily to inspect the hens; this has
been associated as a risk factor of increased feather
pecking[23] and the birds can become frightened resulting in
panic-type ("hysteria") reactions which can increase the risk of
injury.
Being indoors, hens in battery cages do not see sunlight. Whilst
there is no scientific evidence for this being a welfare
problem, some animal advocates indicate it is a concern.[24][25]
Furnished cages and some other non-cage indoor systems would
also prevent hens seeing natural light throughout their lives.
Improving welfare in battery cages
The Scientific Veterinary Committee of the European Commission
stated that "enriched cages and well designed non-cage systems
have already been shown to have a number of welfare advantages
over battery systems in their present form".[19] Supporters of
battery farming contend that alternative systems such as free
range also have welfare problems, such as increases in
cannibalism, feather pecking and vent pecking. A recent review
of welfare in battery cages made the point that such welfare
issues are problems of management, unlike the issues of
behavioral deprivation, which are inherent in a system that
keeps hens in such cramped and barren conditions.[26] Free range
eggproducers can limit or eliminate injurious pecking,
particularly feather pecking, through such strategies as
providing environmental enrichment, feeding mash instead of
pellets, keeping roosters in with the hens, and arranging nest
boxes so hens are not exposed to each others' vents;[26] similar
strategies are more restricted or impossible in battery cages.
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