The transition away from battery cages has produced a range of alternative egg production systems with different welfare profiles. Understanding what each system provides helps evaluate welfare claims.
The transition from conventional battery cages has improved welfare for hundreds of millions of hens by providing more space and behavioral resources. However, no current commercial system fully meets laying hen welfare needs. Enriched cages provide marginally more space but still prevent many natural behaviors. Free-range systems allow outdoor access but outdoor use varies enormously with management and weather. The near-universal prevalence of keel bone fractures in cage-free systems - caused by collisions and falls from perches - represents a significant unresolved welfare problem in the systems promoted as higher welfare. Feather pecking and its extreme form cannibalism occur across systems and require management interventions including beak treatment that themselves have welfare implications. The welfare of laying hens has improved but remains far below what the species requires.