UC Davis joins study of housing for egg-laying hens

The University of California, Davis, will team with researchers from Michigan State University to study the effects of various kinds of housing – including cages vs. no cages – on egg-laying hens.

The study is likely to generate interest in Merced County, home to Foster Farms and Gemperle Farms, where eggs rank seventh in the top 12 leading farm commodities. In 2009, the commodity was worth $80,885 in Merced County.

The schools have received $6 million for the study from the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply, a group made up mostly of egg producers, purchasers and universities with major agriculture programs.

The CSES Laying Hen Housing Research Project is being billed as the first of its kind and is expected to take three years.

By 2014, researchers hope to publish detailed information on food safety, worker safety, environmental impact, hen health and welfare, and food-affordability issues.

Housing for egg-laying hens has been a hot-button issue in California for years.

In 2008, California voters approved Proposition 2, which mandated certain space, time and movement standards for egg-laying hens in enclosures.

The proposition was pushed by the Humane Society of the United States and various groups advocating humane treatment of animals. The Humane Society sued the University of California in 2008 over what it said was an industry-biased analysis released by UC Davis during the Proposition 2 campaign.

However, egg farmers contend that the Proposition 2 standards are vague.

The egg industry, a $300 million-plus annual enterprise in California, says it already complies with strict humane standards, and the benefits of various hen enclosures are unclear.

The study will address that by researching three different types of hen-housing systems:

• Conventional cage housing, now used by most U.S. egg producers.

• Enriched cage housing, larger than conventional cages and equipped with perches, nesting areas and foraging/dust-bathing materials.

• Cage-free aviary, a non-cage system that enables hens to roam along a building's floor level and have access to perches and nest boxes.

Study organizers say the overall objective is to help egg producers make "science-based decisions" amid consumer demands.

"The information gained will be useful to all consumers as they make decisions about what kinds of eggs to buy," said Joy Mench, a UC Davis animal science professor and director of the Center for Animal Welfare.

Mench is one of the co-scientific directors for the study.

CSES says its ranks include animal welfare scientists, research institutions, egg suppliers, food manufacturers, restaurants, food-service and retail food companies "working to better understand the impact of various laying hen housing systems on a sustainable supply of eggs."

Among the members are Bob Evans Farms, McDonald's USA and the American Humane Association.