The shift from conventional battery cages to cage-free housing for laying hens represents the largest welfare transition in agricultural history, but cage-free systems present their own welfare challenges requiring active management.
Cage-free housing dramatically improves welfare in the most fundamental dimensions - hens can walk, spread their wings, lay in nest boxes, and dust bathe. These are profound improvements over battery cages. The welfare challenges in cage-free systems - keel bone fractures, feather pecking - are real but manageable through good husbandry rather than fundamental to the system. The contrast with battery cages where every behavioral need is denied makes cage-free an unambiguous welfare improvement even with its limitations. The remaining challenge is ensuring cage-free commitments translate to actual system transitions with appropriate management quality.