Some animal rights organizations have made tremendous strides in
educating the public about what exactly occurs in battery hen operations. They
have exposed the ugly truth, such as tens of thousands of hens crowded into
long, poorly ventilated, completely dark sheds, fully automated feeding and egg
collecting systems, filth, death and suffering. The recognition of how horrible
the short lives of “battery hens” are has led many people to stop contributing
to this atrocity by simply not buying those eggs. Unfortunately, many other
people have looked to so called "Cage-Free/Free-Range" eggs as an acceptable and
humane alternative.
Sadly the public is led to believe that "Cage-Free" hens live a
happy, natural life. This is simply not so!
"Cage-Free"/"Free-Range" hens come from the same hatcheries that battery
hens come from, all of their male brothers are killed by suffocation or being
ground up alive, the girls themselves endure the same bodily manipulations and
mutilations, and they ALL ultimately end up at the same
slaughterhouses when their "production" declines.
I am often asked "Don't you think it is still better that people buy
'Cage-Free' eggs rather than battery produced eggs if they are going to buy eggs
anyway?" I feel the person actually wants to believe that their consumer dollar
is not paying for someone else to commit animal abuse, when in fact it is – no
matter what production means were used.
It is like asking if I think strangulation is better than suffocation. My
answer is: Neither is an acceptable option. There is simply NO way to
humanely produce eggs for human consumption.
First, I would not want anyone to buy "Cage-Free" eggs if they are doing
so because they have compassion for the animals and convince themselves that
they have made a humane choice.
One of the most destructive things we can do for the animals is to lie to
ourselves, or allow ourselves to be fooled an misinformed into believing that
animal agriculture of ANY kind is humane.
Second, the so called "Cage-Free" or "Free-Range" eggs are produced with
an exorbitant profit margin in comparison to battery produced eggs. Therefore,
well meaning consumers will be unwittingly padding the already thick pockets of
egg producers, hatcheries, and poultry slaughterhouses, which will only allow
them to increase the size of their operations and advertising budgets, which
will in turn lead to even more suffering.
Third, the question forgets the most obvious choice: Don't buy
eggs at all. Once people allow themselves to entertain the possibility
of living egg-free, it's quite empowering. They suddenly realize that Yes! It
can be done. Millions of people before them have cut eggs and products made with
eggs out of their lives and are doing just fine! Not only vegans, but millions
of people from other cultures don't eat eggs.
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Why "Cage-Free "or
"Free-Range" Eggs Are NOT a Humane Alternative – In a
Nutshell
No matter where the egg production facility is, or what
the 'visible to the public 'conditions are, the egg-laying hens are obtained
from the same hatcheries that kill the baby rooster chicks at only one day
old. If the "free-range" farm hatches its own chicks, two important
questions still remain.
1. What
happens to ALL of the male chicks – not just few token roosters
– ALL of them?
2. What
happens to the hens when they are no longer laying enough eggs for this facility
to be profitable?
If the spent
hens and ALL of the roosters were allowed to live out their lives until they
died a natural death – chickens can live well over a decade – then
that farm would soon have thousands of "spent" hens and roosters to care
for. Obviously, the lifelong care of all of those birds, at all stages of a
natural life span, would cut severely into any profits made by selling the eggs
of younger hens.
So what happens to ALL of the boys? And what
happens to ALL of the spent hens?
Hens are
generally considered spent by egg-laying facilities at one to two years
– meaning, the farm then has to provide predator-proof shelter, food,
veterinary care, etc. for that same hen, for another decade. The roosters
will require dozens of separate yards, predator-proof shelters, food, vet care,
etc. for their entire lives.
In order to
make a profit, the numbers simply don't add up unless the
inevitable killing of roosters and spent hens is occurring.
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