Battery Cages

More than 90 per cent of Canada’s 26 million egg-laying hens are kept in small, cramped “battery” cages where they are unable to perform natural behaviours such as nesting, perching, dust-bathing, stretching a wing or walking around – activities that are important to them. Each bird has less space than a sheet of notebook paper. Hens are forced to stand on sloping wire floors, and they suffer feather loss and skin damage due to constant rubbing against the cage and cage-mates.

More information about battery cages

Click here to read what experts have to say about the cruelty of battery cages.

To read about Controlled Atmosphere Killing, click here for PETA’s report.

Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals

Broken Wings

Inside Clark Egg Farms Ltd.
Covert video footage taken inside a battery cage operation.

The Truth About Canada’s Egg Industry
Shocking video footage of the inside of a standard battery cage operation (summer 2005).

Campaigns

Alternatives to battery cages

There are viable alternatives to battery cages, where free run hens are kept in open barns and can move around and lay their eggs in nest boxes. Certified organic eggs come from hens with access to the outdoors at least part of the time.

Click here to download our information about labelling and alternative egg production systems.