Commercial laying hens are slaughtered at 12-18 months when egg production declines economically, despite potential lifespans of 5-10 years. The welfare of spent hens is a neglected issue at the end of the egg supply chain.
The welfare of spent hens is invisible to most egg consumers. Hens slaughtered at 12-18 months have lived their entire productive lives in commercial systems and face the additional stress of catching, crating, transport, and lairage before slaughter at the end. Their physiological condition at end of lay - depleted bones, worn feathers, sometimes chronic pain from keel fractures - makes them particularly vulnerable to stress during this process. The economic pressure to slaughter rather than retire hens earlier is immense, and the alternative of rehoming is logistically challenging at commercial scale. Better end-of-lay welfare requires both improved catching and transport protocols and cultural change around the value placed on individual hen lives.