Actor Emily Barclay says . . .“We must give hens the freedom they

deserve. Please join me in supporting SAFE’scampaign against battery cages.”

Will you condemn her to a life sentence by buyingcaged eggs? Each New Zealander consumes onaverage 200 eggs per year. Despite growingopposition to battery hen farming, around 90 percent of these are still produced by caged hens.

While caged eggs are cheap the real price is paidby the hens, who lead short miserable lives. Batteryhens are forced to live in small, overcrowded cagesinside dimly lit factory farms across New Zealand,day in and day out.

By avoiding eggs from caged hens you preventfurther innocent chicks from being caged for life.

SAFE’s FREEDOM FOR HENS CAMPAIGNWWW.SAFE.ORG.NZ

SAY NO TO CAGED EGGS

HER LIFE IN A CAGE...

“FARM FRESH”

HIDDEN CRUELTY

FREE TO ROAM

A battery hen is imprisoned for life inside a tiny cage. Her ‘living’ spaceis less than the area of an A4 sheet of paper. This extreme confinementdenies a hen the ability to carry out most of her natural patterns ofbehaviour. She can’t walk, stretch her wings, peck and scratch or dustbathe. She is forced to stand on a sloping mesh floor, which causesconsiderable discomfort and can lead to painful foot injuries.

Overcrowded conditions inside battery cages increase aggression,which can result in excessive feather pecking and cannibalism. Insteadof providing more space, the poultry industry either cuts off the tipof the hen’s beak or reduces light levels to virtual darkness inside thesheds in an attempt to reduce aggression. The hen will also sufferfeather loss and skin damage due to constant rubbing against hercage and cage mates.

Selective breeding by the egg industry has manipulated the hen’snatural laying cycle so that she now lays around 300 eggs per year,approximately 280 more than her wild ancestors. This demand depletesthe hen’s calcium levels and this, combined with her inability toexercise, can lead to osteoporosis, leg weakness and increased likelihoodof painful fractures. Battery hens are usually killed at 18 months ofage and processed into stock or pet food.

The type of battery cage used in New Zealand will be banned in Europe by 2012.

An estimated 2.8 million hens are kept in battery cages in New Zealand.

The typical lifespan of a wild free-ranging hen is 10-15 years.