Confining hens is completely unnecessary, campaigners say.
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Battery cages, which can house between four and 10 egg-laying hens, will be phased out by the end of next year, but the larger colony cages are still legal.
SAFE campaign manager Jessica Chambers said there were 2.3 million hens living in colony cages.
Confining hens was not only cruel but completely unnecessary, she said. Our Animal Welfare Act states that animals must have the ability to perform normal behaviours. That s the law, but a hen in a colony cage, she can t do any of her normal behaviours and those include scratching at the earth, foraging, stretching her wings, moving around freely or avoiding aggressive hens in the cages so basically it s so highly restrictive and there s so few enrichments available to them.