Egg industry debates ethics of cage sizes

Are cramped chickens crazy chickens?

Researchers are trying to answer that question through several studies
that intend to take emotions out of an angry debate between animal welfare groups and producers.

The answers could
have big implications for the egg industry, which counts Indiana as one of its leading producers. Indiana ranked third among
states in egg production in 2008, trailing only Iowa and Ohio. The Hoosier state produced 6.5 billion eggs last year, or about
14 percent of the national total.

At issue are small cages, typically 24 inches wide by 25.5 inches deep, that
can be shared by up to nine hens. About 96 percent of eggs sold in the United States come from hens who live in the so-called
battery cages from the day they’re born until their egg-laying days end 18 to 24 months later.

Public opinion appears
to side with those who oppose the cages. Voters in California approved a proposition last year that bans cramped cages for
hens. And Michigan’s governor signed legislation last month requiring confined animals to have enough room to turn around
and fully extend their limbs.

Peter Skewes, a Clemson University researcher, is leading one of the studies comparing
how different housing affects egg-laying hens. He said there are plenty of "emotional" opinions about whether the
cages are inhumane, but few are based on facts.

"Hopefully we will contribute something so decisions can be
made based on science and knowledge about how we house birds and the implications for different systems," said Skewes,
who is in the early stages of a three-year study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But even as Skewes
and others conduct research, some question the need to study an issue they argue was resolved long ago.

Bruce Friedrich,
a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said banning the cages is a solution to an obvious problem.

"Think about the … effects of not moving for up to 24 months," Friedrich said. "Their bones and muscles
waste away and they go insane."

Paul Shapiro, senior director of the Humane Society of the United States’
Factory Farming Campaign, agreed.

"The egg industry is trying to muddy the waters by misleading people into
believing that it’s possible to confine birds in barren, tiny cages and have high welfare," he said.

Producers
see it differently, claiming caged hens are healthier and satisfied with the only lives they’ve ever known. Although the chickens
can’t fully extend their wings, producers contend they’re not stuffed so tightly that they can’t move around the cage.

"Is this animal cruelty? This absolutely is not," said Bob Krouse, president of the United Egg Producers
industry group and an egg producer based in the Indiana town of Mentone, which is known as the "Egg Basket of the Midwest."

Or as K.Y. Hendrix, owner of Rose Acres Farms in Seymour, puts it, "We can produce a better egg, produce a healthier
chicken if we keep them inside." Rose Acres is the country’s third-largest egg producer and has about 1,000 employees.

Egg producers began experimenting with hen cages in the late 1950s. By the early 1970s, cages were commonly used for
egg-laying hens and are now the standard home for hens, which can lay up to 300 eggs a year.

Hens lay eggs for
up to two years, then typically are used as meat for humans or animal feed.

Whether they’re a delaying tactic —
as animal welfare groups claim — or needed research, studies on chicken cages are proceeding.

Skewes will
compare emotional and behavioral patterns of caged hens with non-caged counterparts. Part of that will including studying
behaviors such as wing-stretching, perching and foraging.

"We’re looking at what … things they would still
do if given the opportunity," Skewes said. "So you deprive them of that, and the welfare component is, so what?
There are difficult questions."

Another study, coordinated by the University of California at Davis and Michigan
State University, weighs several issues involving caged chickens, including their welfare and impact on the environment and
human health as well as food quality and safety.

The study, funded by the American Egg Board, also considers the
economics of egg production. In California, producers estimated the voter-backed rules would add about a penny to the cost
of each egg, but Krouse put the cost at up to 50 cents per dozen eggs.

"We hope we can say … what the effect
is going to be on prices, the environment and on the welfare of hens," said Joy Mench, a UC Davis researcher.

UC Davis and Michigan State also plan another study that will include several advisers, including food companies such as
McDonald’s and Cargill Inc., the Department of Agriculture’s Research Service, and groups such as the American Veterinary
Medical Association and the Center for Food Integrity.

Mench said that study will examine egg-production sustainability,
hen welfare, worker safety, food safety and food quality.

Dr. Gail Golab, director of the veterinary association’s
Animal Welfare Division, said she hopes the studies can clarify the debate.

"A number of us that work in the
animal welfare field are frustrated at efforts to say one system is all good or all bad and not being able to quantify welfare
values," Golab said. "(We want to) look for the best possible solution we can for raising these animals."