The transition to cage-free egg production addresses some welfare problems while leaving others unresolved, revealing that hen welfare requires more than simply removing cages.
The cage-free transition represents genuine welfare progress — hens can perform more natural behaviors than in battery cages. But it is progress toward welfare adequacy rather than welfare sufficiency. The problems that persist — keel bone fractures causing chronic pain, feather pecking that maims and kills — reveal that housing system alone does not determine welfare. Management quality, stocking density, enrichment provision, litter quality, and genetic selection all interact to determine whether cage-free systems actually deliver the welfare improvement they claim. Consumers who pay premium prices for cage-free eggs deserve to know whether the specific system producing their eggs achieves meaningful welfare improvement beyond marketing claims.