LAYING HENS: THE INSIDE STORY A Viva! report by Juliet Gellatley, BSc Zoology, Founder & Director, Viva! Viva! is a reg charity 1037486 LAYING HENS: THE INSIDE STORY LAYING HENS: THE INSIDE STORY A Viva! report by Juliet Gellatley, BSc Zoology, Founder & Director, Viva! Written by Juliet Gellatley, with additions by Claire Palmer, Viva!
[email protected] www.facebook.com/juliet.gellatley Copyright: Viva! 2017 Viva! 8 York Court Wilder Street Bristol BS2 8QH 0117 944 1000 www.viva.org.uk Viva! is a reg charity 1037486 ISBN 978-0-9571874-7-4 2 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 FREE RANGE EGG FARMS 31 QUALITY ASSURANCE SCHEMES: A life inside 31 WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN 51 INTRODUCTION 6 ‘Happy Egg’ farms 32 RSPCA Assured 51 The Chicken (Gallus gallus CASE STUDY: FREE British Lion Quality Mark 51 domesticus) 7 RANGE FARMS 33 Soil Association 51 Chickens behaving naturally 7 ‘HAPPY EGG’ FARM Housing On Modern-Day Farms 10 A. 2010 investigation THE GLOBAL EGG INDUSTRY 52 Battery (or conventional) cage 10 (Strathruddie Farm and Retailers 53 Enriched cage 11 Bishophill Farm) 33 Cage Egg Company Suppliers 53 Percheries/barn 12 ROWBOTTOM FARM 34 Noble Foods 54 Free range farms 12 Stonegate 54 Organic 12 ORGANIC 35 Supermarket Policies 54 Antibiotics and vaccination 35 Ingredients 55 FROM BIRTH TO DEATH IN Impacts on welfare 36 Vegan Lines 55 JUST A YEAR AND A HALF 13 Egg replacer 55 Chick Production 13 CASE STUDY: Vegan egg replacers chart 56 Baby chicks 13 ORGANIC FARMS 37 Male chicks 13 MAC’S FARM 37 EGGS AND YOUR HEALTH 57 Viva! Investigates UK Hatcheries