Enrichment for laying hens is an evidence-based approach to improving welfare in commercial egg production. Research has identified what hens need most.
The science of laying hen enrichment has identified clear behavioural needs that, when unmet, cause chronic frustration and welfare compromise. The nest-seeking drive is particularly strong — hens show agitation, vocalisation, and prolonged searching behaviour when deprived of suitable nesting sites at laying time. Similarly, dust bathing motivation persists even in systems that provide litter, suggesting behavioural needs that exceed simple provision of substrate. Foraging and exploratory behaviour, which occupies wild hens for many hours daily, is drastically curtailed in high-density systems. The most important welfare advance in egg production would be providing all these behaviours adequately — a high bar that free-range and organic systems come closest to meeting, when well managed.