Furnished cage

A furnished cage, sometimes called enriched cage, colony cage or modified cage, is a type of cage used in poultry farming for egg laying hens. Furnished cages have been designed to overcome some of the welfare concerns of battery cages (also called 'conventional' or 'traditional cages') whilst retaining their economic and husbandry advantages, and also provide some of the welfare advantages over non-cage systems. Many design features of furnished cages have been incorporated because research in animal welfare science has shown them to be of benefit to the hens.

Battery cages have already banned in several countries including all European Union member states (since 2012 under European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC), Norway (since 2012) and Switzerland (since 1992). New Zealand will phase out battery cages by 2022 and Canada by 2036. Prototype commercial furnished cage systems were being developed in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]} As alternatives to battery cages, the EU Council Directive allowed non-cage systems and furnished cages. Furnished cages therefore represent a feasible alternative to battery cages in the EU after 2012.^{[citation needed]}

Austria banned battery cages in 2009 and is set to ban furnished cages by 2020. Belgium officially prohibits battery cages for meat rabbits since 1 January 2020 and will also prohibit enriched cages from 31 January 2024. However, the alternative system of 'park cages', in which groups of at least 20 animals are given 800 cm² (120 sq in) per animal (12.5 rabbits per m²) has also faced heavy criticism from animal welfarists, especially when in early 2020 the Flemish Centre for Agro and Fishery Marketing (VLAM) launched a campaign to consume more rabbit meat. Germany introduced a 'family cage', which has more space than the furnished cages used in other countries; however, consumers in Germany had reportedly been rejecting these eggs by 2011. Caged farming was eventually banned in Germany in 2015, with a transition period to 2025. Outside the EU, Switzerland has already banned both the battery and furnished cage systems.

All major UK supermarkets have promised to stop selling eggs from furnished cages by 2025. In April 2010, the Norwegian grocery chain Rema 1000 decided to stop selling eggs from both battery and furnished cage hens by the year 2012. Several more industry groups have decided to voluntarily phase out furnished cages as well, such as NorgesGruppen by 2019 and Nortura by 2024, while in April 2017 the Green Party proposed to ban furnished cages throughout the country by 2025.

Under Directive 1999/74/EC, furnished cages must provide at least the following:

1. laying hens must have:

2. a feed trough which may be used without restriction must be provided. Its length must be at least 12 cm [5"] multiplied by the number of hens in the cage;
3. each cage must have a drinking system appropriate to the size of the group; where nipple drinkers are provided, at least two nipple drinkers or two cups must be within the reach of each hen;
4. to facilitate inspection, installation and depopulation of hens there must be a minimum aisle width of 90 cm [36"] between tiers of cages and a space of at least 35 cm [14"] must be allowed between the floor of the building and the bottom tier of cages;

5. cages must be fitted with suitable claw-shortening devices.