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Egg Info Most eggs produced in the United States come from industrialized factory farms confining hundreds of thousands of hens in overcrowded cages. About 95% of the nearly 300 million laying hens in the United States are confined in barren, wire "battery cages" so restrictive the birds can't even spread their wings. With no opportunity to engage in many of their natural behaviors, including nesting, dust bathing, perching, and foraging, these birds endure lives wrought with suffering. The Battery Cage System The battery cage system is an industrial farming system in which laying hens spend their lives confined in small wire cages with several other hens. Under European Union law, each hen has an allotted floor space allowance of 550cm². In the United States, each hen can have between 67 to 86 inches of floor space. Hens confined in battery cages are often kept in a windowless battery shed with up to 90,000 other hens. Their cages are usually piled high in rows up to 8 tiers deep. In order to sustain the battery cage system, hens are debeaked and fed antibiotics. Debeaking is a procedure where the beak is either removed or the tip is trimmed. Debeaking is done to help reduce the damage of pecking. Antibiotics are used to control the rampant viral and bacterial diseases of chickens in crowded confinement. Many of the antibiotics can also be used to manipulate egg production. The life of a battery caged hen Battery caged hens usually become calcium deficient and develop the severe osteoporosis. Each year, millions of caged hens become paralyzed and die of hunger and thirst.
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