Battery cages, enriched cages, barn, free-range, and organic systems all have different welfare profiles. Understanding the evidence helps consumers and policymakers make better choices.
Hen housing welfare is not a simple ranking where more expensive means better welfare. The evidence shows that cage-free systems outperform cages on some measures (natural behaviour expression, bone strength, movement) while performing worse on others (disease transmission, injurious pecking risk, predation). Management quality within any system matters as much as the system itself — a poorly managed free-range flock may have worse welfare than a well-managed enriched colony. The clearest welfare evidence supports removing battery cages globally, maximising space and natural behaviour opportunity, providing effective enrichment, and requiring high management standards across all systems. Consumer choice and retailer commitments can drive adoption of better systems faster than regulation alone in many markets.