Our policies

Housing systems for laying hens

What's the issue?

Enriched cages were brought in to improve welfare outcomes of barren cages. However, the size of enriched cages limit laying hens' ability to express natural behaviours which raises welfare concerns. 

The UK is estimated to produce 12.5 billion eggs per year with a national flock of just over 40 million laying hens. These hens are typically kept in either enriched cages, barn housing, free-range or organic systems for their whole laying lives.  

What's our view?

Production systems should offer stimulating living environments to allow for the performance of highly motivated natural behaviours; opportunities for positive welfare outcomes, such as comfort, pleasure, interest, and confidence; and excellent health outcomes. While enriched cages meet some basic behavioural needs, they deliver significantly poorer welfare outcomes than cage-free systems and should be phased out. With around 83% of UK egg production already cage-free, the direction of travel towards free-range, organic, and barn housing is clear. What is also clear from the evidence is that these alternative systems come with their own challenges for welfare, which must be addressed.

You can find our full policy position here. 

What needs to be done?

  1. Enriched cages for laying hens should be phased out with a 5-year transition to husbandry practices that better support hen health and welfare.

  2. UK Government must use every mechanism available to ban the importation of eggs, liquid eggs and powdered eggs produced from birds in cages.

  3. UK Government should incorporate further welfare improvements into farming grant schemes, and the devolved administrations should look to implement similar improvements into their own schemes.

Get involved 

Contact our policy team for more information.