​Caged chickens set to stay

Colony hen cages are a humane way of egg farming and are unlikely to be banned, according to the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC).

NAWAC guided the Ministry for Primary Industries to phase out battery cages in favour of colony cages, which hold five fewer hens per square metre, by 2022.

“What we do is look at the five requirements for the animal welfare act,” said NAWAC chairperson John Hellstrom.

“One of them is the ability to express normal behaviours. Hens can express most of their natural behaviours in a cage.”

Deirdre Sims, spokesperson for animal rights group Stop Craddock Farms, said colony cages are still inhumane and are not much of an improvement on conventional cages.

“They have some token welfare gestures like scratch pads, but really it's just a joke. A cage is just a cage. Token welfare improvements don’t mean anything for the hens,” she said.

Mr Hellstrom said colony cages are as good as any other husbandry system for animal welfare.

“Every housing system used for poultry has its pluses and minuses,” he said. “If you go to compulsory free range you’ll have some welfare benefits, but you’ll also have higher mortality.”

The executive director of the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand Michael Brooks said the change, which was announced in 2012, will cost farmers around $1 million dollars each.

“A number of farmers have said to us they simply can’t afford it, they’ll go out of business,” said Mr Brooks.

The Environment Court recently declined consent for cage egg producer Craddock Farms to build a 310,000 capacity hen colony cage farm in Patumahoe because of concerns the smell would affect the community.

Ms Sims said the Court’s decision is a step towards New Zealand becoming completely free range.

“Consumers in our country have already shown a big shift towards a preference for cage free eggs,” said Ms Sims. “Its time for the egg industry and the government to catch up with what Kiwis want.”

However, Mr Brooks said becoming completely free range would affect the poorer New Zealand families who rely on eggs as a cheap source of protein.

Mr Hellstrom also disagreed the move would ever happen. “I don’t think New Zealand ever will go completely free-range, I don’t think any country will or can, but I think as time goes on the types of barn or aviary or caged systems that are used will be improved, because that’s what society will expect.”