I am really glad for your engagement on this question, Mia! I found this part of your comment interesting, especially the bolded part:
We have seen in Europe that welfare in cage-free systems improves over time as producers gain experience. The cage-free system has a high ceiling for welfare potential; the furnished cage has a very low one.
Do you have a quick explanation for why this is the case? I guess it makes sense intuitively to me (e.g. cages impose a fixed physical restriction on how much space a hen can have).
It is also really interesting and encouraging to hear that you think welfare in some cage-free systems is continuing to improve over time. I didn’t realize that! If you have a quick sense for how much you think welfare is empirically improving in the European context, I would find this very interesting.
No worries if you don’t have capacity to respond :)
It is also really interesting and encouraging to hear that you think welfare in some cage-free systems is continuing to improve over time.
Relatedly, Schuck-Paim et al. (2021) “conducted a large meta-analysis of laying hen mortality in conventional cages, furnished cages and cage-free aviaries using data from 6040 commercial flocks and 176 million hens from 16 countries”. Here is how they describe their findings in the abstract.
We show that except for conventional cages, mortality gradually drops as experience with each system builds up: since 2000, each year of experience with cage-free aviaries was associated with a 0.35–0.65% average drop in cumulative mortality, with no differences in mortality between caged and cage-free systems in more recent years. As management knowledge evolves and genetics are optimized, new producers transitioning to cage-free housing may experience even faster rates of decline. Our results speak against the notion that mortality is inherently higher in cage-free production and illustrate the importance of considering the degree of maturity of production systems in any investigations of farm animal health, behaviour and welfare.
I am really glad for your engagement on this question, Mia! I found this part of your comment interesting, especially the bolded part:
Do you have a quick explanation for why this is the case? I guess it makes sense intuitively to me (e.g. cages impose a fixed physical restriction on how much space a hen can have).
It is also really interesting and encouraging to hear that you think welfare in some cage-free systems is continuing to improve over time. I didn’t realize that! If you have a quick sense for how much you think welfare is empirically improving in the European context, I would find this very interesting.
No worries if you don’t have capacity to respond :)
Hi Angelina.
Relatedly, Schuck-Paim et al. (2021) “conducted a large meta-analysis of laying hen mortality in conventional cages, furnished cages and cage-free aviaries using data from 6040 commercial flocks and 176 million hens from 16 countries”. Here is how they describe their findings in the abstract.
So interesting, thanks! :)