Cage Eggs and Energy

I picked up this interesting piece of information.  It comes from a 2007 research report.


Adrian Williams, senior research fellow at Cranfield University recently carried out a DEFRA-funded project that calculated the life cycle assessment (LCA) of different farming systems. The concept looks at the consumption of natural resources such as minerals and fossil fuel. "Poultry is the market winner in energy performance," said Dr Williams. "The sector should give itself a pat on its back." However, Dr Williams stressed that Global Warming Potential (GWP) varied depending on the different types of poultry farming methods. If the egg industry was to move towards all cage production, GWP would fall by 10% while going all free range would increase it by 10%. More significant is that going organic would result in a 40% increase in GWP. He explained the main reason was that organic chickens use more energy, having a lower feed conversion, so they eat more feed. Feed accounts for most of the energy required and is a key driving factor for poultry. With meat, organic also comes out worst because of the longer life-span of birds, again leading to a greater lifetime feed consumption.

 Put in language I can understand it means " eat a cage egg and help save the world ".  I guess it comes down to human population increase.  If we continue at our present rate there will be standing room only for ourselves and the chooks.

I Love Cage Eggs

I love cage eggs because I know they should be clean and fresh and laid by healthy happy hens. I always go for the cheapest cage eggs because they usually have the fastest turnover so most likely are the freshest on the shelf.

Gallus gallus ( the domestic fowl ) has been around a long time i.e. the domesticated variety. They have a similar range of varieties as the domestic dog except much more colorful. From the tiny bantam to the giant meat bird cockerel - all shapes and sizes.
Cage hens as a selected genetic variety has only been around since about 1960 or later. The farmer put his free ranging chickens in his new cages. He got more eggs and used less food but got a lot of new problems as well. The hens were nervous and didn't like to be too close so fighting broke out with vent pecking a problem.
The farmer wasn't going back to his old ways so he changed his stockmanship to adapt to the new method. Beak trimming was introduced to prevent vent pecking. Optimum stocking densities were worked out. Cooling systems to counteract heat waves and closing sheds to keep them warm was adopted.

The most important development in my opinion was the specific breeding of traits into the bird to help it adapt to life spent in a reduced area. Hens are now much more placid - they don't want to fight as much. Less energy is spent jumping around - no doubt the instinct to dust bath and flap their wings can be bred out as an unnecessary activity for a life spent free of parasites. The ability to change the hen by selective breeding to suit life in a cage is in no doubt - one only has to look at the pekinese breed of dog to realize the power of selective breeding - hard to believe its ancestor was a savage wolf.

Cage Hens and internal parasites

Cage hens don't have access to their droppings so the cycle of parasitic worms is broken as the hen will need to consume the worm egg from it's own or another hens droppings for the parasitic worm to hatch in the gut and begin it's life cycle again. In nature a small group of jungle fowl range over a large area so worms are in low concentrations and tolerable.
Once confined for egg production the worm burden builds up and needs to be treated unless the hen is kept off the ground. Provided there is sufficient room to room around and socialize with their mates the hen seems to be happy and rewards the farmer with the highest egg laying rate of any production system.