Enriched colony cages for laying hens okayed by AHC

Enriched colony cages are now accepted as humane systems for housing laying hens by American Humane Certified (AHC), the American Humane Association’s animal-welfare certification program.

Previously, AHC did not accept any kind of cage housing, but it decided in June to endorse enriched colony cages based on “extensive scientific review” of the behavior and welfare of hens housed in such systems in Europe, where conventional cages will be banned completely in 2012.

Meanwhile, California-based commercial egg producer JS West & Co. has opened an enriched colony barn for laying hens, believed to be the first of its kind in the US. The company, which has 1.8 million hens in production on three farms and 150,000 hens housed in the enriched colony, says the new housing system meets the requirements of California’s Proposition 2, which takes effect in 2015 and will virtually ban the use of conventional cages for egg layers.

An enriched colony is a cage system that European egg producers are adopting due to regulations that will ban conventional cages as of 2012. Cages in the new system are three- to four-times larger than traditional US hen cages; they provide 116 square inches per hen, 50% more than the 77 square inches used in modern US cages. Enriched cages also have perches, nesting and scratching areas and other “enrichments,” enabling hens to exhibit more of their natural behaviors, reports Feedstuff ’s Foodlink.