The global transition away from battery cages for laying hens represents significant welfare progress, though the journey toward systems that fully meet hen behavioral needs continues.
The laying hen welfare transition demonstrates how sustained advocacy, corporate commitment, and legislation can combine to drive systemic change affecting hundreds of millions of animals. The elimination of battery cages removes the most extreme confinement in commercial egg production, but the journey toward genuinely positive welfare for laying hens is not complete. Enriched cages, while better than battery cages, still significantly restrict natural behavior. Free-range and organic systems can provide good welfare when well managed, but high stocking densities and inadequate enrichment in some systems mean the label does not guarantee positive welfare. Genuine progress requires looking beyond the housing type to actual behavioral and health outcomes.