The egg industry: laying hens, cages and male chicks

Questions this hub answers

Are cage-free eggs cruelty-free?

Cage-free removes the cage, not the crowding. Birds are still typically stocked at around nine per square metre indoors, debeaked, bred for yields of roughly 300 eggs a year, and slaughtered at 72–80 weeks.

What happens to male chicks in the egg industry?

Because they cannot lay and are not bred for meat, male chicks of laying breeds are killed on their first day, historically by maceration or gassing. In-ovo sexing now avoids this in parts of Europe.