The global movement away from battery cages for laying hens represents one of the largest welfare improvements achieved by the animal protection movement.
The cage-free transition is one of the most significant welfare achievements in the history of farm animal advocacy, driven by corporate commitments from food companies responding to consumer and investor pressure. Millions of hens annually now have access to behaviours they were systematically denied in battery cages. The transition is not complete — significant commercial cage production continues in many countries — and the welfare improvements within cage-free systems depend heavily on management quality. Continued advocacy is needed to maintain pressure and to address the remaining welfare issues that cage-free does not resolve.