We’ve all heard about the horrors of the conventional, so-called “battery” cages where 90 percent of the eggs we eat are raised. Crammed into tiny wire enclosures that measure about 18 by 20 inches, the hens—which must be debeaked with a hot knife so that they won’t mutilate their handful of pen-mates out of fear and anxiety—can’t turn around, lift their wings, or avoid shitting and pissing all over themselves.
California, a nationwide leader in freethinking and humane ideals, has addressed the issue this year with the passing of a new law that requires egg farmers to increase the size of those cages, providing each chicken with more space to move. It’s a goal that has been in the works since 2008, when California Proposition 2 created a new statute that prohibited “the confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs.” On January 1 of this year, that statute went into effect. And it doesn’t just affect California egg farmers, but also farmers in states such as Iowa and Idaho that supply a good number of ova to the coast.
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