Battery Caged Hens

Posted July 10, 2009 by Dr. Karen Wolfe

What do you think?

Each battery caged hen used in the egg industry has cage space equivalent to:

A. Less than a sheet of letter-sized (copy) paper.
B. A single sheet of copy paper.
C. Two sheets of copy paper.
D. Four sheets of copy paper.

ANSWER

Answer: A

More than 90% of egg-laying hens in the United States are confined in barren "battery cages." Inside the wire enclosure, each hen has less space than the equivalent of a single sheet of letter-sized (copy) paper. An 8.5- by 11-inch piece of paper has an area of 93.5 square inches. On average, a caged laying hen in the United States has less than 70 square inches of cage space.

Research has shown that hens need an average of 72 square inches just to stand freely, 178 square inches to preen, 197 square inches to turn around, and 291 square inches to flap their wings. Inside these cages, the birds are unable to perform these important natural behaviors. Egg-laying hens are the most intensively confined animal in agribusiness.

FROM www.hsus.org (Humane Society of US)