Free range: Better for the chickens, better for the eggs, better for the human conscience.
Camera IconFree range: Better for the chickens, better for the eggs, better for the human conscience. Credit: Supplied/Getty Images

Opinion: End cruelty to hens

Krista Price, BullcreekFremantle Gazette

THE recent fuss over free range eggs is well warranted – how the eggs taste is not the point, rather the conditions under which they are produced.

Many consumers prefer paying extra for free range.

Peep behind the gossamer curtain and you will see the cruelty of battery hens which exist in intolerably cramped and unnatural conditions.

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Hens suffer excessive feather loss and stress, they peck at each other and themselves out of frustration and boredom.

They are often emaciated and suffer foot infections due to standing on a wire caged base, never seeing the outside world, not able to perch, wander or scratch about. This will be their entire life.

The fortunate, genuine, free range hens get to fossick in soil, peck and search for grubs, worms and snails, along with greens.

They feel the fresh air and the warmth of the sun.

They spread their wings and run.

They come in at night to roost. A far healthier lifestyle and diet produces healthier eggs.

People who pay more for cruelty-free, healthier eggs, must be guaranteed that is what they are receiving.

There needs to be far more scrutiny in this sector.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was responsible for sow-stall free pork in the UK. Australia will be finally phasing out this cruel practice by the years end.

There’s now a move in the UK to ban cage eggs. Hopefully we will follow their example.

If the majority purchased free range only, producers of the caged variety would have little choice.

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