Laying Hen Enriched Colony Cage Welfare

Enriched colony cages were introduced to replace barren battery cages but continue to prevent hens from expressing key natural behaviours.

Key Facts

Battery cages were banned in the EU in 2012 but remain legal in many countries including parts of the US.
Enriched colonies provide 750 cm2 per hen compared with 550 cm2 in barren cages — still extremely restrictive.
Enriched colonies include a perch, nest box, and scratch area, but space remains insufficient for full wing extension.
Approximately 5 billion hens globally are still kept in cage systems.
Barn and free-range systems allow significantly more movement and behaviour expression.

Welfare Considerations

Despite being an improvement on barren battery cages, enriched colony systems still severely restrict natural behaviour. Hens cannot perform dust bathing effectively, perch space is minimal, and the crowded environment prevents normal social interactions. Feather pecking and aggression remain problematic. Barn and free-range systems provide meaningfully better welfare, and free-range systems with outdoor access allow the most natural behaviour expression. Consumer choice of free-range or organic certified eggs is a direct mechanism for improving laying hen welfare at scale.

What You Can Do

Choose free-range or organic certified eggs in preference to barn or cage eggs.
Support legislation to ban enriched colony cages globally.
Encourage workplaces, schools, and food service providers to adopt free-range egg policies.
Advocate for retailers to commit to cage-free sourcing across all egg-containing products.