The global transition from battery cages to cage-free egg production is the largest farm animal welfare improvement in history, yet the transition brings new welfare challenges requiring careful management.
The cage-free transition represents the largest coordinated farm animal welfare improvement in history, driven primarily by corporate commitments rather than regulation. Battery cages prevent nearly all natural behavior — cage-free systems are genuinely better on this fundamental dimension. However, the transition has revealed that cage-free does not automatically mean good welfare. Keel bone fractures, smothering, and management challenges can produce poor welfare outcomes in poorly designed or managed cage-free systems. The welfare aspiration is not merely cage-free but genuinely enriched, well-managed systems where hens can express natural behaviors without new serious harms. Holding corporate commitments to outcome-based standards rather than just housing type is the next welfare frontier.