The Truth about Canada's Egg Industry

Overcrowding plagues thousands of hens in Canada's battery barns.

Canadians were shocked by undercover footage taken at an intensive egg factory farm in Southern Ontario during the summer of 2005. The haunting images—birds crammed into tiny battery cages, feathers chafed off, open sores, birds in lower cages covered in feces—had many Canadians questioning if this kind of suffering is just too high a price to pay for slightly cheaper eggs.

But the sad truth is these images are all too common in Canada, as 98 percent of the 26 million egg-laying hens in this country are cruelly confined for their entire lives in tiny wire battery cages, so small they can barely even move.

One of the best ways to help them is through your consumer choices.

Cruel Cages

In Canada, chickens raised primarily for egg production are referred to as laying hens. They spend nearly their entire lives inside small wire cages known as 'battery cages'. Multiple hens—each with a wingspan of approximately 80cm—are crammed into each battery cage. The lack of space prevents the hens from performing many of the most basic instinctive behaviors, such as walking and stretching their wings.

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 17,100 birds. The extreme overcrowding and unnatural conditions lead to a multitude of problems, including foot and feather damage from the wire cages. In addition, the complete lack of exercise coupled with unnaturally high egg production causes osteoporosis, predisposing hens to broken bones.

Overcrowding can also lead to heat stress since adequate ventilation is virtually impossible to provide in these facilities during hot weather. During heat waves, millions of birds can suffocate. What's more, excrement and dust builds up, creating an unhealthy and stressful environment for these sensitive birds.

The Small Farm Alternative

By comparison, laying hens raised uncaged on smaller, more humane farms are often able to live a more normal life. They have enough space to move around and spread their wings. They can socialize and perform such natural behaviors as scratching at the ground and taking dustbaths.

HSI/Canada partnered with the Vancouver Humane Society to educate Canadian consumers about more humane alternatives to eggs produced by battery caged hens. Learn more about the Chicken Out campaign!

We also work closely with Canadian universities and businesses to establish cage-free egg policies. If you would like your school, institution, or business to go cage-free, contact us for more information!

Latest News

Learn More

• Cage-Free Egg Production vs. Battery Cage Egg Production
• Scientists and Experts on Battery Cages [PDF]
• A Comparison of the Welfare of Hens in Battery Cages and Alternative Systems
• An HSUS Report: The Welfare of Animals in the Egg Industry 
• Cage-Free Campus
• "No Battery Eggs" Campaign Exposes the Hard-Boiled Truth about Laying Hens
• About Chickens
• An HSUS Report: Welfare Issues with Selective Breeding for Production in Egg-Laying Hens
• An HSUS Report: Welfare Issues with Transport of Day-Old Chicks
• Human Health Implications of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use
• The Welfare of Intensively Confined Animals in Battery Cages, Gestation Crates, and Veal Crates

Resources 

• Endless Eggless Options
• Choice Eats: Chicken-Friendly Products
• The HSUS Guide to Vegetarian Eating
• Making the Switch
• Vegetarian Recipes
• Egg-Laying Hens Photo Gallery

Video

Ban Battery Cages: Put the Chicken Before the Egg