January 30, 2012 No Battery Cages: Our Campaign Imagine living
the rest of your life in an elevator with six other people—being
prevented from even the most basic activities! This is the kind
of existence that a battery hen endures. Chickens raised for egg
production are referred to as laying hens. Currently, most of
the 26 million egg-laying hens in Canada will spend their lives
inside small wire cages known as 'battery cages'. These barren
enclosures are about the size of a filing cabinet drawer.
Multiple hens—each with a wingspan of approximately 80cm—are
crammed into a cage approximately 50 cm across. The lack of
space prevents the animals from performing many of the most
basic instinctive behaviors, like walking, laying their eggs in
nests, perching or scratching and stretching their wings—actions
that are necessary to their welfare. Stress and overcrowding
Battery barns in Canada hold thousands of cages, each confining
multiple birds, in tiers of two to eight cages high, with farms
averaging more than 1