William Janowitz 
On World Egg Day, the chicken should come first.
2024 has been a year of setbacks for the egg industry.
This year, millions of hens were culled to avoid further spread of bird flu as it ravaged flocks across the country. In the wake of this tragedy, there were salmonella outbreaks in nine states, which resulted in egg recalls. On World Egg Day—a day established by the egg industry to celebrate eggs as an affordable and nutritious food source—it hardly seems time to celebrate.
One of the biggest failures of the egg industry is not unique to 2024: the abuse of millions of egg-laying hens stuck in cruel cages.
For most birds in the US egg industry, life begins in an industrial hatchery. Shortly after the baby birds emerge from their shells, workers “sex” the chicks. Male chicks, who do not lay eggs, are seen as a byproduct in the egg industry, so they are gassed or dropped into a macerator to be crushed or shredded within hours of hatching. In the US alone, 300 million male chicks face this fate every single year, despite emerging alternative technologies.
The profit-driven egg industry has selectively bred hens to lay up to 300 eggs per year—while their ancestor, the red jungle fowl, would only lay about 12 eggs per year in the wild. Confined to wire cages among 4-10 other birds, the hens spend their lives in a cage with floor space measuring less than a standard sheet of paper per bird. In these conditions, the birds are unable to perform their necessary normal behaviors, such as simply spreading their wings, which are critical for their wellbeing.
A growing body of research suggests that chicken cognition is far more complex than many realize. According to a 2017 study published in Springer’s Animal Cognition, chickens possess many cognitive characteristics similar to humans and other intelligent animals, including the ability to exhibit self-control, reason, and perceive time intervals. The rigid confines of battery cages fall short of addressing the complex cognitive needs of hens.
Fortunately, recent years have brought unprecedented change for hens in our food system. The dramatic growth of the cage-free egg market among mainstream consumers is one of the most meaningful victories in history for birds and for the animal protection movement at-large. Fifteen years ago, only 3% of hens in the US were raised in a cage-free environment. Today, due to public pressure prompting throngs of commitments from corporations and government, more than 40% of hens are now granted a cage-free environment. That shift resulted in more than 100 million birds and counting who have experienced life beyond the confines of a cage, and the freedom to spread their wings.
And that’s not all. Remarkably, thanks to the work of organizations like The Humane League, almost every major food company in the US pledged to phase out eggs from caged hens by 2025, making 2024 a crucial year for animal welfare and corporate accountability. With only a few months left in the year, major brands like Hardee’s, Krystal, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, and Subway have failed to report on progress towards their self-imposed deadlines. According to new data from The Open Wing Alliance, of nearly 1,200 companies that set cage-free deadlines of 2023 or earlier, almost 90% have fulfilled their promises. McDonald’s, one of the largest egg buyers in the US, fulfilled its 100% cage-free commitment two years ahead of schedule.
A recent survey issued by the NSF, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based product testing and certification organization, indicates that nearly 70% of US consumers say animal welfare is “very” or “extremely” important in their purchasing choices. Companies like Hardee’s, Krystal, Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, and Subway owe it to their customers to fulfill their long-standing cage-free promises.
Chickens are the most populous bird on the planet, and as thinking and feeling beings, their welfare matters. Companies that refuse to report progress towards their cage-free commitments aren’t only stifling progress for animals, but they’re also failing to give well-intentioned consumers the transparency they deserve. This World Egg Day, we should celebrate and protect the hen. It should be an opportunity to recognize how far we’ve come towards better treatment of egg-laying hens, and to hold accountable the corporations hindering further progress.
Consumers know that animals deserve better than a lifetime trapped in a cage. Let’s hold corporations accountable to these expectations.
