In Australia, federal laws require eggs that label themselves as free-range to come from chickens who are allowed access to the outdoors. Free-range farms are able to provide just one square metre of outdoor space for each hen. There are no legal requirements or standards which apply to cage-free or 'barn-laid' egg production systems.
Most consumers buying free-range or cage-free eggs do so because they care about the wellbeing of chickens. Brands sold in major supermarkets market themselves as 'truly free-range,' (Josh's Rainbow Eggs) 'free range by nature,' (Valley Park Farms) and having 'nothing to hide' (Farm Pride).
Despite common assumptions that free-range means higher welfare, the NSW Department of Primary industries actually lists free-range farming as having the highest mortality rates of any egg production system. Factors such as increased feather pecking, cannibalisation and aggression, as well as risks of something and disease spread contribute to the high number of deaths on free-range farms.
The issues
Across all farms investigated, hens were found with open wounds, likely from fighting and feather pecking, a symptom of overcrowded sheds. Many hens were missing feathers from their necks, tails and wings, also indicative of cramped sheds with no stimulation. To prevent feather pecking, newborn chicks have their beaks cut, either with a hot blade or a laser. However pecking and cannibalisation are still common, especially in cage free and free range systems.
Missing feathers can also be an indication that birds are moulting, a natural process which is forced in factory farms through controlled lighting and complete or total starvation. Starvation is a technique commonly used on factory farms at the end of a hen's first laying cycle to improve the productivity and quality of eggs in subsequent cycles.
Many hens bred on commercial egg farms experience nutritional deficiencies from a lack of fresh food and sunlight. At many of the farms investigated, hens were found to be laying jelly-like, soft shelled eggs, an indication of calcium deficiency and stress. Hens would fight to eat these eggs, a valuable source of calcium in their otherwise deprived diets. Other hens were seen with pale, floppy combs which indicate anemia.
In nature, hens form small groups with an established 'pecking order.' However, in these sheds, tens of thousands of birds are packed tightly together with only metal bars to perch on. This causes aggression, fighting and even cannibalisation which is recognised as the second most common cause of death on free range egg farms.
Injured hens will be killed by workers each day or will die slow, painful deaths in the sheds.
The modern-day egg-laying hen has been selectively bred and genetically manipulated over many years to lay an excessive number of eggs, up to 300 eggs per year, placing huge stress on their bodies. Investigators documented evidence of hens with prolapses and others who showed signs of being 'egg bound,' a painful and potentially life-threatening condition where an egg becomes stuck in the reproductive tract.
Egg laying hens are killed at 12-18 months of age, when their egg production begins to slow. Many don't make it that long. At multiple farms, investigators found dead hens decomposing in the sheds, as well as bins of the dead, carelessly discarded alongside rubbish. A pile outside one of the sheds was full of bones and feathers.
