By Gianina Schwanecke of RNZ

There are renewed calls from animal rights advocates for an end to colony-cage egg farms.

The Open Wing Alliance launched an international campaign about conditions in caged egg production farms, which they said were harmful for chickens’ welfare and created conditions that increased the risk of disease like avian influenza.

However, the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand rejected such claims as “a nonsense”.

Jennifer Dutton, of Animals Aotearoa, which is part of the Open Wing Alliance, shared their concerns.

She said colony cages weren’t much better than battery or conventional cages, which were phased out of use in New Zealand over 10 years by 2023.

“New Zealanders are under the impression we don’t have caged eggs and that’s been deliberately cultivated,” she said.

“We still very much have the colony cage.

“Sometimes called the enriched cage.”

Dutton said she wanted an end to colony cages in New Zealand, too.

“When we look at birds that have been trapped in colony cages stacked up as if they are a product, you see birds that are massively missing feather patches, you see pale cones.

“They’re totally deprived of all those natural, in-built chicken behaviours, scratching in the dirt, foraging for bugs, even fully stretching out their wings.”

However, Michael Brooks of the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand said colony egg farms were a “credible system”.

He said the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) “unanimously and independently” decided to allow egg producers to move to colony cages, barns and free-range systems after the ban of battery cages.

“The height is higher, they have a nesting area, they have a scratch pad, and they have perches for every bird,” he said.

“And the three primary welfare behaviours of a layer hen are nesting, perching and scratching.

“Therefore, that is one of the reasons there was support for the colony system.

“Combine that with the reduced risk from environmental reasons is one of the reasons it was approved by NAWAC.”

Of concerns raised about the potential spread of avian influenza in such set-ups, he said it was “a nonsense”.

“Avian influenza is in the environment.

“It’s actually our free-range operations that are most at risk from avian influenza.

“It’s not the colony sector that’s going to be a major risk.”

Brooks said the federation and the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand (PIANZ) had been working closely with farmers, along with the Ministry for Primary Industries, to try to mitigate the risks of avian influenza spreading.

MPI’s director of compliance and response, Glen Burrell, said of the seven complaints received by the ministry this year about the welfare of layer hens on commercial farms, no offending was found in six, with one case still being investigated.

Burrell said following the ban of conventional, or battery cages, egg producers had the option to move to colony cages, barns and free-range systems.

He said it was decided by NAWAC that colony cages and barns provided more space than battery cages, and enabled hens to express normal behaviours such as perching, pecking, nesting and scratching.

NAWAC plans to review the Code of Welfare for layer hens as part of its work programme.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Commission has opened a compliance project in relation to the labelling of colony-laid eggs.

– RNZ