In the UK, millions of egg-laying hens are confined to cages with a space barely larger than an A4 piece of paper per hen. They cannot run, fly or even experience fresh air and sunlight. 

 

In very welcome news, the Scottish Government has recently consulted on phasing out cages for laying hens. It proposes to prohibit the use of cages throughout the entire Scottish laying hen sector, which OneKind strongly supports. 

Download our report 

What is the problem with enriched cages? 

 

While the conventional battery cage system was banned in the UK in 2012, around 2 million hens in Scotland are kept in enriched cages for their entire lives.

These cages confine each hen to an area little more than the size of an A4 piece of paper.

Hens kept in these cages cannot run, fly or even experience fresh air and sunlight.

 

Hens naturally carry out comfort behaviours, such as wing flapping and stretching, and body shaking and they are also strongly motivated to explore, forage and peck. Due to the size and environment of these cages, these behaviours are either not possible, or severely restricted. 

Support for a ban 

A 2020 YouGov survey commissioned by Compassion in World Farming, found that 88% of the British public consider using cages in farming is cruel and 77% of those surveyed supported a complete ban on the use of cages in farming. 

Enriched cages are already banned in several European countries, such as Austria, and are in the process of being banned in other countries, such as Germany and Czechia, in the coming years. 

Campaign highlights 

Scottish Government consultation 

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government consulted on ending the use of cages for egg-laying hens. We created an easy-to-follow guide to help our supporters voice their support for ending the use of cages for egg-laying hens and to also urge the Government to consider stopping the use of farrowing crates. 

‘Emotional Beings’ report 

In 2020, we published our report, Emotional Beings: Why farmed animal welfare matters in a Good Food Nation. 

This extensive report explores the welfare issues faced by animals that are farmed in Scotland and was produced to raise awareness of farmed animals as sentient, individual beings as opposed to “units of production”. 

Petition to ban farmed animal cages 

5,724 supporters signed our 2019 petition to the Scottish Government to ban cages for farmed animals. 

Protesting in Edinburgh 

 

In 2019, we protested in Edinburgh city centre in dog cages to highlight the suffering of farmed animals confined to cages.

 

End the Cage Age 

 

Since 2018, we have actively supported Compassion in World Farming’s End the Cage Age campaign and the European Citizens’ Initiative to ban cages.