Battery Cage

Battery Cage

In poultry farming, battery cages (sometimes called factory farming) are an industrial agricultural confinement system used primarily for egg-laying hens. The name comes from the lines of similar cages connected together, sharing common divider walls. 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 was estimated that over 60% of the world’s eggs were produced in industrial systems, mostly using battery cages, including over two thirds in the EU. In the UK, statistics from the Department 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). However, introduction of the European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC which, due to welfare concerns, effectively banned conventional battery cages in the EU from January 2012, means the number of eggs from battery cages in the EU states is rapidly decreasing.