Egg production systems vary enormously globally, from battery cages to cage-free and free-range, with significant welfare implications for the billions of laying hens worldwide.
The global egg production welfare picture is one of enormous disparity. In the EU, minimum standards prevent the worst battery cage conditions, though enriched colony cages still fall short of hens' full behavioural needs. In the USA, the slow cage-free transition is happening primarily through corporate commitments rather than legislation. In the Global South, battery cages remain the norm with no near-term regulatory alternatives on the horizon. The welfare gap between a well-managed free-range flock and a battery cage operation is vast: the difference between a life with some capacity to express natural behaviours versus one of chronic severe physical restriction, frustration, and often painful conditions like keel bone fractures and foot sores.