Hen Housing Systems: Page 21

Egg Production

Sustainable Egg Project looking to provide answers for society

The U.S. egg industry is at a crossroads; the conventional cage, which has been the standard means of housing hens in this country for decades, has been challenged on animal welfare grounds. At this time, the two primary alternatives to conventional cage housing are enriched colony cages and cage-free aviaries.

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Egg Production

Legislative, market uncertainty will force egg producers to adapt

As the months go by, the uncertainty about housing standards for layers in California and the U.S. as a whole continues. Many egg producers are sitting on the sidelines waiting, some are adding cage-free housing to satisfy a market which, while still small, is growing rapidly, and a brave few have added fully enriched cages and are trying to create a market niche for these eggs. Perhaps the one thing that everyone can agree on is that change is coming and the U.S. layer industry will undergo a major transformation.

Egg Production

United Egg Producers, humane society agree to extend welfare agreement

Representatives from the United Egg Producers, California egg farmers and the Humane Society of the United States met in mid-January to look at the language of the 2012 Egg Bill (H.R. 3798) and update it for 2013. The Egg Bill sets the parameters for a transition of the U.S. layer industry from conventional cage housing to enriched colony cages.

Egg Production

EU egg producers coping with cage ban

The ban on conventional cages took effect as 2012 dawned, but by March, 13 EU member states were still not fully compliant with the ban, according to Herman Versteijlen, director agricultural markets for the European Commission. Reduced supply, higher egg prices and a transition to new housing systems have been the result.

Hen Housing Systems

WATTAgNet webinar focuses on alternative layer housing

The impact of bans on conventional cages for housing laying hens will take center stage in the next WATTAgNet.com seminar, Layer housing alternatives: Economic ramifications of a move out of conventional cages, on June 26, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EDT (8:00 a.m. PDT). Egg producers can hear how the cage bans are impacting EU egg producers today and learn about how alternative systems for housing hens are performing.

Egg Production

How price elastic is demand for eggs?

When economists want to give an example of price inelasticity, eggs are frequently the commodity chosen to demonstrate how changes in price for eggs, either up or down, have relatively little impact on demand for eggs from consumers. The ban on conventional cages for housing layers in the EU that went into affect in January of this year will provide an interesting test case to see just how inelastic demand for eggs really is.

Egg Production

Will enriched colonies satisfy US consumers?

As more U.S. egg producers adopt enriched colony housing it will be necessary for each producer to work to educate the public about the benefits of this type of housing for hens. Efforts like the in-house cameras at JS West, which is viewable via the Internet, need to be replicated at all farms with enriched colony housing. If the U.S. industry does not want to be forced into a completely cage-free future, then all houses need to provide an environment for hens that we are happy to have consumers view at any time.

Egg Production

Dutch egg producers, researchers seek optimum layer housing

Egg producers in the Netherlands are trying to cope with a market place and legislative environment that have demanded changes to how hens are raised, stated Dr. Ferry Leenstra, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Speaking to the audience at the Forum on the Future of the American Egg Industry, she said that Dutch egg producers first had to adapt to a voluntary retailer ban on cage-produced eggs in 2004, eight years before the EU cage ban went into effect.

Egg Production

Is technology good for hen welfare?

I left the Executive Conference on the Future of the American Egg Industry, which was held in conjunction with the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta, with more questions than answers. If the U.S. egg industry transitions from conventional cages to enriched colony housing, is it preserving the right to employ technology to continue to increase egg production while minimizing inputs?

Egg Production

Cage ban shrinks the German egg industry

By law, the EU’s ban on conventional cages for housing laying hens took effect on January 1, 2012, but according to the European Commission, estimates of as many as 46 million hens, around 14 percent of the total, were still in conventional cages at the start of the year in the EU. Egg producers who have already converted to approved alternative housing systems are upset with government officials because they are incurring higher costs of production than producers are who are still housing hens in cages.

Hen Housing Systems

Potters Poultry receives American Human Association seal of approval

Potters Poultry International has been awarded the Manufacturers Seal of Approval by the American Humane Association for its bird welfare-friendly Aviary the Avitier 125-4 + Avinest. Potters has been making and designing aviary systems for over 22 years and this is the latest in the design based on work carried out on the company's own farms and customers around the world.

Egg Production

Egg producers, humane society reach agreement on layer housing standards

The United Egg Producers and the Humane Society of the United States have not agreed on much over the years, but the two organizations were able to find common ground recently and have come to an agreement on a plan that would change the way that most hens in the U.S. are housed. In July, representatives from the two groups signed a memorandum of understanding, which outlines standards for housing and care of hens in the U.S. and commits both groups to petition Congress to pass legislation establishing these as national standards.

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