I wonder how much the results of the CSES study would change if the management practices were similarly good for both conditions (instead of worse for the cage-free chickens). You replied to my related question below that āMy [your] general sense is that option A leads to a greater welfare increaseā.
Relatedly, I [Vasco] wonder how much welfare varies within production systems. For example, I am interested in knowing which of the following results in a greater increase in welfare. Layers going from:
A. Median furnished cages in the European Union (EU) to median cage-free aviaries in the EU. By median furnished cages in the EU, I mean ones with higher welfare per chicken-year than 50 % of the furnished cages in the EU.
B. 10th percentile furnished cages in the EU to 90th percentile furnished cages in the EU.
Hi Vasco, my sense is that moving from cages (even if furnished)to cage-free aviaries is an improvement, for the reasons I mentioned in my earlier response. Right now, with the evidence gaps there are, itās very hard though to make a reliable distinction between 10th percentiles.
There are confounding issues with the term ācage freeā since some folks frankly cheap out and actually introduce novel downsides that donāt usually exist with typical caged setupsā¦ which means it needs to be very precisely defined and checked on the ground.
Hi Cynthia. Thanks for the great context.
I wonder how much the results of the CSES study would change if the management practices were similarly good for both conditions (instead of worse for the cage-free chickens). You replied to my related question below that āMy [your] general sense is that option A leads to a greater welfare increaseā.
Hi Vasco, my sense is that moving from cages (even if furnished)to cage-free aviaries is an improvement, for the reasons I mentioned in my earlier response. Right now, with the evidence gaps there are, itās very hard though to make a reliable distinction between 10th percentiles.
There are confounding issues with the term ācage freeā since some folks frankly cheap out and actually introduce novel downsides that donāt usually exist with typical caged setupsā¦ which means it needs to be very precisely defined and checked on the ground.