Today, most farmed egg-laying hens spend their entire lives in narrow wire battery cages, which prevent them from engaging in natural behaviors, including nesting, foraging, roosting, and dustbathing. Even so-called enriched cages furnished with perches and nesting spaces are still too restrictive to allow hens to fully express these important behaviors.

While welfare concerns have helped cage-free egg production grow in popularity with policymakers, corporations, and consumers, common challenges make it difficult for some producers to make the switch. Farmers generally need more knowledge and skills to operate cage-free systems, which have unique considerations to ensure both hen welfare and profitability.

Previous research on cage-free systems has mostly focused on challenges to incorporating them, and there are fewer documented cases of successful cage-free operations. This makes it harder for relevant stakeholders, such as animal behavior scientists (ethologists), egg producers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to work towards solutions.

To help address this gap, the authors organized a forward-looking, solutions-oriented workshop at an international animal behavior conference. The conversations and takeaways led to the creation of this paper, which helps inform how to overcome known challenges slowing progress to a world where cage-free systems are the standard.

The online workshop, hosted by the animal protection non-profit Humane Society International (now Humane World for Animals), took place in August 2021. Bringing together 80 stakeholders from diverse professional and national backgrounds, the workshop provided a space to talk through how to encourage more humane farming systems that support healthy hen behavior. Participants listened to informational presentations before splitting into breakout groups to discuss one of three topics:

1. Overcoming challenges faced in cage-free systems;
2. Collaborative opportunities to support transitions to cage-free; and
3. Next steps for researchers and ethologists.

Participants also completed a post-workshop survey.

Workshop participants held thoughtful discussions that revealed many considerations for the cage-free movement. Below are some key takeaways from the breakout rooms and survey that can help inform animal advocates’ understanding and path forward:

• Hen welfare doesn’t stop at removing cages. Although cage-free systems give hens more space, they may still give rise to damaging hen behaviors, such as pecking one another (feather pecking) or piling on each other, which suffocates those at the bottom (smothering). Using an animal behavior science approach to understand the root causes of these problems can help farmers act preventatively rather than reactively.

• Farmers can learn from researchers — and each other. With the challenges mentioned above, some farmers might feel nervous about transitioning to cage-free, especially because they may need more resources, knowledge, and skills to do so. Farmers might be more open to learning from peers who successfully manage cage-free systems rather than researchers or scientists. This approach could be especially helpful if both are from areas with similar situations or demographics. Researching how to improve existing or inexpensive cage-free systems can help meet farmers where they are, and making sure research is easily understandable beyond the scientific and technical community is key.

• Partnership will drive progress. Stakeholders who can support the transition to cage-free include farmers, egg consumers, researchers and universities, governments, retailers, and NGOs, and collaboration is essential. For example, informing consumers about why to buy cage-free and promoting transparency about how their eggs are sourced can help influence people’s choices. Farmers and retailers can work together to get the word out. In turn, increased demand helps farmers afford to transition — and makes them want to do so. Ethologists can use their understanding of hen behavior to design innovative practical solutions to challenges farmers might encounter in cage-free systems. NGOs can also help share information with governments, encouraging them to support animal welfare regulations and training and funding for farmers.

Because this workshop took place at an animal behavior conference, and participation was on a voluntary basis, most, if not all, participants already had knowledge of or an interest in helping animals. For cage-free operations to thrive, they’ll also need the input and support of less interested people, making knowledge sharing all the more important.

Additionally, while breakout participants touched on a variety of issues, they didn’t thoroughly discuss potential environmental impacts of a transition to cage-free systems. For cage-free systems to persist, environmental sustainability should be incorporated.

Successful cage-free operations can be found around the world and on every scale, inspiring hope for a future where most eggs are produced by happier and healthier hens. Advocates should understand that even though researchers have more to learn to continue improving cage-free systems, there’s plenty of knowledge and experience to support these transitions right now.

This workshop demonstrated that some farmers have encountered obstacles in operating cage-free systems — meaning that the work to help hens, and the farmers who raise them, shouldn’t end after abolishing cages. It’s up to NGOs, ethologists, and other partners to support farmers and their hens through more education and guidance to help make existing and new cage-free systems humane and sustainable. Animal advocates can fill a unique role as facilitators and mediators of communication between these various stakeholders.