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Senator wants to give hens living room
Bill would require more space for caged egg-laying hens
By PATRICK JACKSON
The News Journal
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060131/NEWS/601310347/-1/NEWS01
01/31/2006
DOVER -- Caged and confined in big chicken houses, Delaware's egg-laying hens should at least be given enough room to spread their wings, Sen. Karen Peterson says.
Peterson, D-Stanton, last week introduced a bill requiring farmers now using "battery cages" until January 2010 to give egg-laying hens enough room to spread their wings without touching the edges of their cage. Violators would be fined between $200 and $500 a day. It provides exceptions for farmers transporting their birds to a veterinarian's office or to slaughter.
The bill would primarily cover Delaware Egg Farm in Middletown, the state's only major commercial egg farm, producing more than 10 million dozen eggs per year. Senate Bill 253 would not affect Delaware's biggest poultry industry -- production of broilers.
"We don't want to hit people over the head with this," Peterson said. "This would give farms an opportunity to phase in replacements as their current cages wear out."
The local chapter of Humane Society of the United States is supporting Peterson's effort with an advertising campaign.
Industry officials say the bill is not needed because the chickens aren't complaining, or at least aren't having problems laying eggs.
"I don't know if contented or happy is the right word," said Gene Petit, egg production manager for Wenger's Feed Mill Inc., the Pennsylvania-based company that manages Delaware Egg Farm. "But our birds must like their conditions or they wouldn't be productive."
There are no federal rules governing the cages. Delaware would be the first state to legislate against what are known as "battery cages," said Paul Shapiro, the Humane Society's factory farm campaign manager.
Some European nations have banned caging egg-laying hens, and the European Union has tight regulations on member nations that allow the practice.
Pictures influence senator
Peterson said she was moved to introduce the bill after seeing pictures of what she was told were battery cages at Delaware Egg Farm.
"These things are about the size of a kennel you'd put a puppy in. They cram chickens into them and they're stacked about four high," Peterson said. "The chickens barely have room to move, except to crawl over one another. It doesn't seem very humane to me."
Petit said the cages are the norm in his industry and denied Peterson's claim that the cages are stacked in such a way that droppings fall on birds in lower cages.
"There may be some that drops," he said. "But we don't want that. It's not healthy and we want healthy birds and healthy eggs."
Shapiro, whose group worked with Peterson on the bill, said he disagrees with that assessment.
Sen. George H. Bunting Jr., D-Bethany Beach, said the Senate Agriculture Committee plans hearings on the bill when lawmakers come back from a six-week break in mid-March.
"I saw some pictures that were supposed to be from the farm that were disturbing," he said. "It's something we might want to do something about ... but we would want to investigate it before we bring it up for a vote."
Policy changes
Petit said the company was caught off guard by the bill, but hopes the Senate will consider it carefully before acting.
In October 2005, Bon Appetit Management Co., which operates more than 190 university and corporate dining facilities in 26 states, announced a plan to phase out the use of cage-produced eggs by November 2006. The decision followed student complaints about cage-produced eggs.
Some speciality and health food markets, including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market, have either stopped selling cage-produced eggs or are phasing them out.
(END OF NEWS JOURNAL ARTICLE)
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Date: Tue Jan 31 12:37:31 2006
