Egg laying hens are one of the few types of farm animal in the UK that, on some farms, are still kept in close-confinement cage systems for all of their productive lives. Around 30 million egg laying hens are kept in the UK, of which around 58 per cent (17 million) are kept in cages. This has decreased from 75 per cent 10 years ago because more and more people are choosing eggs from hens kept in higher-welfare alternative systems, such as barn or free-range.

Hens are naturally inquisitive animals with a strong desire to perch, exercise, preen themselves, dustbathe, forage and nest. We are very concerned that hens can’t easily carry out these important natural behaviours when they’re kept in cages, and we want to see all laying hens kept in well-managed free-range or barn systems instead.

Conventional barren battery cages will be banned from 2012 throughout Europe, but so-called ‘enriched’ cages will still be allowed - unfortunately we believe that these cages offer very little improvement on conventional battery cages.

We’re working very hard to try to improve the conditions in which all laying hens are reared, transported and slaughtered/killed, and to get better laws to protect them.