{"id":843563,"date":"2017-03-23T14:11:14","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T18:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peta.org\/?post_type=living&#038;p=843563"},"modified":"2024-04-02T04:00:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T11:00:16","slug":"cage-free-eggs-difference-between-free-range-organic","status":"publish","type":"living","link":"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/lifestyle\/food\/cage-free-eggs-difference-between-free-range-organic\/","title":{"rendered":"How Are Hens Treated for &#8216;Cage-Free,&#8217; &#8216;Free-Range,&#8217; and &#8216;Organic&#8217; Eggs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The public is becoming more aware of the daily horror that hens endure on factory egg farms. In response, the egg industry has created labels that sound appealing, such as &#8220;cage-free,&#8221; &#8220;free-range,&#8221; &#8220;free-roaming,&#8221; &#8220;organic,&#8221; and &#8220;natural&#8221; in order to attract more customers. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/issues\/animals-used-for-food\/free-range-organic-meat-myths\/\">these labels are misleading<\/a>. Here&#8217;s something that the egg industry doesn&#8217;t want you to know: &#8220;Cage-free&#8221;\u00a0does not mean &#8220;cruelty-free.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video aligncenter is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"video-player\"><div class=\"widescreen-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Where Do Eggs Come From?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H0-CRX6uclI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n<p>Even when chickens on &#8220;cage-free&#8221; farms aren&#8217;t kept inside dirty, cramped battery cages, it doesn&#8217;t mean that they&#8217;re allowed to roam free in green pastures or frolic in the sun.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/warehoused-hens-instagram-carousel.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/warehoused-hens-instagram-carousel.png\" alt=\"Crowded, injured hens in &quot;cage-free&quot; environment\"\/><\/a>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Farms can use a term such as &#8220;cage-free&#8221; and still employ the same inhumane methods found on conventional factory farms.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/news\/new-usda-organic-rule\/\">\u201cOrganic\u201d labels<\/a> are the only of these labels subject to government regulations, but they mean very little when it comes to how the chickens are treated.<\/p>\n<figure data-media-credits=\"[{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Right photo: Direct Action Everywhere&quot;,&quot;credit_link&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.directactioneverywhere.com&quot;},{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;credit_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;}]\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large wp-block-image--has-credit\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/cage-free-collage.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Hens on both small- and large-scale commercial cage-free farms still have short, painful lives.<\/p>\n<p>They often spend much of their time confined to crowded sheds or mud-filled pens, just as animals on conventional farms do. When they are given outdoor access, it\u2019s often just a hole cut in a shed wall that leads to a muddy pen\u2014and typically for only very short periods of time.<\/p>\n<figure data-media-credits=\"[{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9 Direct Action Everywhere&quot;,&quot;credit_link&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.directactioneverywhere.com&quot;},{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;credit_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;}]\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large wp-block-image--has-credit\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/cage-free-hen.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When they&#8217;re chicks, part of their tender beak is cut off with a hot blade\u2014without any pain relief. They sustain painful lung lesions, breast blisters, and ammonia burns from sitting on unsanitary floors covered with urine and feces. And male chicks are often ground up alive or thrown in the trash to suffocate or be crushed to death, since they don&#8217;t lay eggs and are considered useless by the industry.<\/p>\n<figure data-media-credits=\"[{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9 Mercy For Animals&quot;,&quot;credit_link&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.mercyforanimals.org\\\/&quot;}]\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large wp-block-image--has-credit\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/10.-debeaking-chicks.gif\" alt=\"chick getting beak cut off\"\/>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What You Can Do to Help<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/features\/egg-industry-cruelty\/\">egg industry<\/a> uses more than 300 million hens each year for egg production. It doesn&#8217;t want customers to find out about its extremely cruel practices, because they&#8217;d stop buying eggs if they knew the truth.<\/p>\n<figure data-media-credits=\"[{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;credit_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;}]\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large wp-block-image--has-credit\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/vegan-egg-follow-your-heart.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The only way to reduce chickens&#8217; suffering is to stop supporting the egg industry by simply not eating eggs.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, a number of delicious, satisfying vegan options that you can use in place of eggs are readily available. Check out our favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/lifestyle\/food\/egg-replacements\/\">eggless options<\/a>, along with these gorgeous, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/lifestyle\/food\/egg-free-recipes-will-blow-your-mind\/\">egg-free recipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Thinking about going vegan? Order our FREE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/lifestyle\/food\/free-vegan-starter-kit\/\">Vegan Starter Kit<\/a> today!<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-sunflower-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/lifestyle\/food\/free-vegan-starter-kit\/ \">I Want a Vegan Starter Kit!<\/a><\/div><\/div><input class=\"fooboxshare_post_id\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"843563\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As more people go vegan, the cruel egg industry is &#8220;scrambling&#8221; to create labels like &#8220;cage-free eggs&#8221; in order to attract more customers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":843626,"parent":98443,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_integration_method":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_code":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"#404: Not Found","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,446,64,61,3],"placement":[453,450],"class_list":["post-843563","living","type-living","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eggs","category-fb-instant-articles","category-food","category-lifestyle","category-vegan","placement-living-food-landing-page","placement-living-landing-page"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What&#039;s the Matter With Free-Range or Cage-Free Eggs? 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