The RSPCA is strongly opposed to battery cages and wants them banned. It has campaigned hard against their use for many years. It has run public education and advertising campaigns about the sorry state of hens in battery cages. It has lobbied governments and the egg industry to stop using this inhumane method of egg production.

A very positive and successful move to get hens out of battery cages was setting up the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme. Egg producers can use the RSPCA logo on egg cartons only if they meet the very high welfare standards set by the RSPCA — therefore eggs from battery hens do not make the grade. The scheme is a win all round: the public can make an ethical choice to buy welfare-friendly eggs and producers can see it makes economic sense to improve the welfare of their hens. The RSPCA has also been successful in some States in having egg cartons labelled so consumers can now confidently distinguish between cage eggs, barn-laid eggs, or free-range eggs.

The RSPCA tries hard to improve legislation covering layer-hen welfare, egg production and marketing. The RSPCA is not always successful against the strength of other interests, but it certainly makes a difference, in many cases simply by moving those other interests towards the RSPCA position of good welfare for layer hens. An example of this is the size of the lettering on the egg cartons — the egg industry wanted smaller (3 mm) letters, RSPCA wanted larger (10 mm) ones. The final decision was to have 6 mm letters. This may not sound like a major win, but keeping in mind that consumers do notice labels and that ‘from little things big things grow’, it is definitely a significant step forward.

There are moves to get hens out of cages across the world, with the European Union (EU) taking the lead. From January 2003, no new battery cages can be installed in the EU and, after 2012, all hens must have more space, a nest, a perch and litter for dust bathing and scratching. Switzerland has banned battery cages since 1992 and so have several parts of Austria. Germany also intends banning the so-called furnished cage.

RSPCA and other animal welfare groups have worked together to try to bring an end to battery cages. In 1999, the Australian Government reviewed layer-hen housing. The issue was intensely debated by RSPCA, other groups and the egg industry. RSPCA argued strongly and at every opportunity to phase out battery cages. Sadly, despite the overwhelming evidence that hens suffer in cages, in 2000, the Council of State and Territory Agriculture Ministers (ARMCANZ) decided that cages would continue to be used for the foreseeable future. Some small improvements for caged hens did come out of the ARMCANZ decision, for example to slightly increase the floor space per hen. Many producers resisted even this tiny improvement and some states have been slow to put the change into legislation.

Despite this, RSPCA will keep reminding the public, producers and governments that scientific evidence shows battery hens do suffer intensely and continuously when confined in battery cages. Restricted movement, lack of exercise, constantly sitting on a wire floor and no perches in these cages lead to serious bone and muscle weakness. This is on top of the hens having most of their behavioural needs frustrated.

The RSPCA will continue to lobby governments to ban the use of battery cages. It will continue to lobby and work with the egg industry to get rid of their battery cages. It will continue to make alternatives attractive to the consumer, such as RSPCA Approved eggs. In this way, the economics of egg production will shift away from battery cages to welfare-friendly methods in which hens can comfortably express all of their normal behaviours.

For further information, see:

Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals: Domestic Poultry which is available at (http://www.publish.csiro.au/books/download.cfm?ID=3451).

You may also wish to visit www.choosewisely.org.au to learn more about how you can support businesses or become one of the many businesses that choose to say "no" to cage eggs.

To learn more about the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme visit: http://www.rspca.org.au/what-we-do/our-work/approved-farming-scheme.html.

And view our RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme standards for layer hens here: http://www.rspca.org.au/assets/files/ApprovedFarming/LayerHensStandards.pdf.