With delicious egg substitutes available for a variety of dishes from baked goods to omelets, there has never been a better time to leave eggs out of our carts and off our plates. I understand it seems like a good idea, but please don’t get a chicken unless you can look. Whats best for the environment may not be best for the bird or for people. The best way to ensure we are not contributing to the suffering of laying hens is to stop consuming eggs. But New Zealand animal charity SPCA is urging caution among aspiring poultry-raising enthusiasts. The decision between caged, cage-free or pasture-raised eggs might seem simple, but it isnt. Eliminated threats from predators and temperature extremes. Though choosing eggs from farms that use a particular housing type may mean that those chickens avoid some suffering experienced by other layers, they still suffer considerably. A battery farming-style of raising egg-laying hens arose in the late 1940s, when researchers found favorable results such as: More uniform eggs. Cage eggs are produced from hens that are housed in cages inside large, climate-controlled sheds. The oldest chicken in the world was 22 years old according to some news reports. Consumers have been increasingly interested in moving toward cage-free egg production systems, yet 70 percent of laying hens still spend their lives in. Cage-free chickens are provided with food and water at various locations. It is assumed that a domestic chicken can live up to 15 years if it is well kept. Cage-free chickens have space to expand their feathers and roam freely. Their environment and biology are manipulated to force them to produce so many eggs, of such a large size, that their bodies frequently break under the burden. The wild form of our domestic chicken can live around ten years on average. Instead, most of these birds live short lives in crowded spaces with their beaks cut down by a third. This, however, is not the case for the majority of the hens that lay the millions of eggs consumed in the United States every year. Egg producers have created various kinds of branding around standards, likely with the intent of misleading consumers into thinking that the laying hens on their factory farms are treated humanely and live comfortable lives. Australias long-awaited plan to phase out battery hens may be in doubt because of a so-called 'captains call' by a state minister, documents obtained under FOI laws reveal.
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