Call for end to 'cruel' battery cages for chickens. Nov. 19, 2011 — -- In the wake of an ABC News investigation into alleged unsanitary and inhumane practices at one of the nation's largest ...

There are renewed calls from animal rights advocates for an end to colony-cage egg farms. The Open Wing Alliance launched an ...

When consumers picture farms, oftentimes our thoughts go to idyllic open fields with cows grazing, chickens foraging and pigs rolling around in the mud to cool off. Even if we do picture farms that ...

EU welfare standards for laying hens due to come into force this week will ban conventional 'barren' battery cages from 2012. However, the agriculture department in Britain, DEFRA, is set to do ...

It’d be difficult for Gene Gregory’s defense of battery-cage egg production to be more misleading in Monday’s guest column “Battery cages are good for chickens.” Gregory’s assertions are false or ...

Turkeys are destined to receive a lot of attention this week both as the centerpieces of many families’ holiday meals and in animal protectionists’ op-ed pieces showing the suffering those turkeys ...

Alternatively, commercial eggs (also called battery-cage eggs) come from hens that generally get only 67 square inches of cage space, which is sadly less than the size of a standard 8.5-by-11-inch ...

Cage-free hens are more humanely treated than battery-caged hens, who are not treated humanely at all. However, cage-free hens do not go outdoors; they do not range in the open air.

Cage-free: Cage-free is the same quantity of hens in the same space as battery cages, but without the cages. Brown: The color of the shell depends solely on the breed of hen.

Battery cages are single-hen metal cages with about 70 square inches of floor space. Colony cages have a similar design but are longer, holding a tightly-packed row of hens.

After the ban of conventional cages, producers had the option to move to colony cages, barns and free-range systems.