Battery cages are wire cages for egg-laying hens, usually about 18 by 20 inches, with up to 11 birds inside. Each bird in a battery cage has an area smaller than a standard 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper. A single bird has a wingspan of 32 inches, and lives her entire life never being able to spread her wings. Cages are stacked in rows on top of each other, so that hundreds of thousands of birds can be housed in a single building. The wire floors are sloped so that the eggs roll out of the cages. The birds are denied their natural behaviors such as nesting and dustbathing. Because feeding and watering is sometimes automated, human oversight and contact are minimal. Birds fall out of cages, get stuck between cages, or get their heads or limbs stuck between the bars of their cages, and die because they cannot access food and water.
One of the horrors of factory farming, battery cages have been banned in Switzerland since 1992. A ban on the cages in the European Union takes effect in 2012, and California's ban on battery cages takes effect in 2015.
Some animal advocates support cage-free eggs. However, animal rights activists advocate veganism because even cage-free eggs are cruel and exploitative, no matter how well the chickens are treated.
