Egg-laying hens are probably the most miserable animals in America. They spend their lives packed six to a cage with an area the size of a sheet of paper. In this tiny space, their natural instincts thwarted, they can never stretch their wings or take a step. Their feet may grow around the wire floors of their cages, causing them to starve. In their panic and desperation, they would kill their cage-mates if they could.

They can’t, however, because producers “debeak” newborn chicks, searing the tips of their beaks off with a red hot razor. This procedure, done with no anesthetic, leaves them in chronic pain according to veterinarians. Many chicks starve to death, unable to force themselves to pick up food with their injured beaks.

In 2000, looking to cash in on the growing consumer interest in “free range” eggs, and hoping to reassure the public about animal welfare, the egg industry created the “Animal Care Certified” program for egg producers. By adhering to industry-created guidelines, companies earned the right to use a logo on their packaging promoting their humane treatment of their egg-laying chickens.

Unfortunately for the chickens, these standards were woefully inadequate. They raised the minimum space insignificantly, but let debeaking continue. And they said nothing about the treatment of male chicks, who are commonly suffocated, crushed or thrown in dumpsters because they cannot become egg-laying hens.

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