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for �The Happy

Hen Organic

Fertile Brown

Eggs� invoke a

picture of

hens who run free

�in a natural

setting, and nest

and lay eggs in

individual hole

nests of wheat

straw.� These

�free-range� hens

are �humanely

housed in healthy,

open-sided

housing, for daily

sunning----

something Happy

Hens really enjoy.�

thethethethethefrfree-ree-rangangee

mythmythmythmythmyth his Sunnybrook Farm idyll is no doubt comforting to the growingnumber of people looking to free-rangepoultry and eggs as humane alternatives tothe factory-farm variety. �Free-range,� adesignation applied to roughly 2 percent ofall commercially raised birds in the UnitedStates, conveys a positive image of animalsliving outdoors as nature intended. Inreality, a Happy Hen�s life, like that ofvirtually all free-range poultry, is neitherfree nor spent on the range. One of the three Happy Henhouses is perched on a remote Amish farmin Logantown, Pennsylvania. �Humanelyhoused� inside this long barn are 6,800chickens and enough roosters so that thereis one for every 100 hens. These free-rangebirds never set foot outside their �healthy,open-sided housing.� Their beaks havebeen trimmed severely to keep them frominjuring one another. Their feathers arestraggly, drab, and worn off. �We have asaying,� the farm�s owner brags, �Therougher they look, the better they lay.�

Besides, he points out, each hen lays20 to 23 dozen eggs a year, so they must betreated well.

Although calling Happy Hensfree-range violates fact, it does not violatethe law. Indeed, there are no laws orgovernment standards regulating the useof free-range, free-roaming, or free-walking on egg cartons. Thus, says aFood and Drug Administration (FDA) staffmember, a Minnesota egg producer canclaim that uncaged hens kept on a concretefloor without nest boxes are free-walking.(The �USDA grade� mark on an egg cartonsimply means that the eggs inside werepackaged under United States Departmentof Agriculture supervision and meet USDAstandards for grade, weight, class, andproducer.)

According to the FDA staffer,free-range claims could be illegal under theNutrition Labeling Education Act, whichrequires that nutrition information be statedso that consumers can understand it in thecontext of the total daily diet. It is

This is what the poultry industry means when it says �free-range.�

T

also possible that, under the Federal Food,Drug, and Cosmetic Act, a case couldbe made that free-range birds are beingkept in a way significantly different fromwhat people expect. People presume free-range birds spend much or most of theirdays outdoors with ample space, exercise,sunlight, social life, and at least somesustainable vegetation. To U.S. eggproducers, however, free-range birds aresimply uncaged, though their range mayconsist of the crowded floor of a buildingwith nest boxes along the walls.

NEST EGGS, which are marketedby the Food Animal Concerns Trust(FACT) in Chicago, are produced by themost �humane� operations one is likely tofind in this country. To qualify for NESTEGGS packaging, marketing, andpromotion, farmers must keep their hensuncaged in a building equipped with nestboxes, perches, deep litter, feeders, anddrinkers. Farmers are encouraged toprovide fresh bales of hay and to sprinklearound some cracked corn, whole oats, orcalcium grit each day to encourage thehens to scratch and to keep the litter ingood condition. �Careful� debeaking ispermitted, but not force molting, astandard commercial practice in whichfarmers withhold food from the hens fordays or even weeks to manipulate eggproduction. NEST EGGS farmers areadvised, but not required, to provide eachhen with two square feet of space. (TheUSDA recommends a foot and a half ofspace for each bird.)

Regulations governing theapplication of free-range to birds raisedfor meat in the United States--mainlychickens and turkeys--are scarcely morestrict than the nonexistent rulesgoverning the application of that term toegg-laying poultry. Poultry raised formeat may be sold as �free-range� only ifthe birds so designated have access tothe outdoors. That access must becertified by the USDA, which reviews andapproves labels for federally inspectedmeat products. No other criteria--vegetation, range size, number of birds, orspace per bird--are implied by this term.

Nor do USDA regulations have anythingto say about keeping the range fresh.Hens spend much of their time close tothe house, scratching, dust bathing, andwearing away the grass. A static houseand pasture become unsanitary when hundreds or thousands of birds arecollected in a small area. A system ofrotation is needed. According toCompassion In World Farming, �An ideal free-range unit is made up of small,insulated, movable houses each holdingup to 300 hens with a littered floor. Thehouses can be moved to fresh grass.�This system is ethically and ecologicallysuperior to the battery-cage system andto what is normally promoted as free-range in the United States. Nevertheless,it does not solve the problem of oversizedflocks or the isolation of hens from othersexes and age groups of their species andfrom other species.

Chickens can live active lives forup to 15 years, but after a year or two,commercial free-range hens are hauledaway in transport crates the same as arebattery hens, who spend all their lives incages.

Noncommercial family farmsgenerally keep their �girls� two or threemore years before replacing the entireflock. Spent fowl, whether caged or

ACTION FOR ANIMALS � P.O. Box 45843, Seattle, WA 98145 � www.afa-online.org � (206) 227-5752

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Corn Starch - 2 TB for 1 egg

Arrowroot Flour - 2 TB for 1 egg

Potato Starch - 2 TB for 1 egg

Soy Powder - 1 heaping TB + 2 TBwater for 1 egg

Flax Seed & Water Puree - 1 TBflaxseeds + 3 TB water for 1 egg.Blend flaxseeds and water inblender for 1 to 2 minutes untillmixture is thick and has theconsistency of a beaten egg white.

Banana - 1 banana for 1 egg incakes.

ENER-G Egg Replacer - 11/2 tsp + 2TB water for 1 egg. Comes inpowder form in an easily storedbox. 10 cal. per serving. No animalingredients. Check natural foodstores and special sections inyour local supermarkets. Ask themto carry it if they do not already.

free-range, go to the highest bidder,usually a spent-fowl slaughter plant or alive-poultry market or auction. The"Happy Hen" hens are trucked to live-poultry markets in Pennsylvania, NewJersey, and New York City where theyfetch a dollar per bird. Spent-fowl plantspay 2 to 25 cents per bird.

Even if free-range chickens andeggs were the humane alternatives theegg industry would like people to thinkthey are, the problem of �excess� roosterswould remain. Half of all chicks hatchedare roosters; therefore, egg productionalso involves the production of these�excess� roosters, who have nocommercial value. Invariably, the brothersof the free-range hens--like the brothersof battery hens--are trashed at birth orsold to research laboratories. No amountof advertising on an egg carton canchange that fact.Karen Davis, Ph.D.President, United Poultry Concerns