Ending the Use of Battery Cages

One of our main corporate outreach programs has been the Cage-Free Initiative that is backed by 13 German animal protection organizations which allow us to negotiate with companies on their behalf.

In the last years, we played the main role in getting food companies to abandon the sale and use of cage eggs (including egg products). The initiative has developed a momentum of its own: Many companies have decided to go cage-free just because their peers did it.

Our work has contributed to a drastic decline in the market share of cage eggs. Since the end of 2025, the caging of so-called laying hens has been prohibited by law in Germany. In cases of hardship, a transition period remains in effect until the end of 2028. Nevertheless, our initiative remains just as important, as the food industry continues to import cage eggs as an ingredient.

Since 2016, we also have started to take a more international approach: working with the Open Wing Alliance to get international cage-free commitments from food businesses.

Higher welfare-standards in cage-free systems

While getting laying hens out of cages into cage-free environments is a step that reduces suffering, their suffering in cage-free systems is still severe. One important indicator is the necessity for searing („trimming“) their beaks: The hens are so stressed that they develop behavioral disorders. As a result, feather pecking and cannibalism occur. To make sure that these behavioral disorders do not lead to high mortality rates, the tips of the laying hens’ beaks are cut off. This procedure causes pain both in the short term and in the long term. It does not stop the behavioral disorders but it makes sure that mortality rates stay low: seared beaks hardly cause wounds. We are calling for an end to beak searing and for keeping and feeding hens in a way that does not let behavioral disorders occur.

We laid the groundwork to ending beak trimming in Germany by publishing a paper about how beak trimming was ended in Austria and sending it to some of the most important decision makers in the egg industry, the retail sector, and politics. Eventually, this work was successful. A couple of years later we were also able to improve rearing conditions for young hens. This will not only affect the 40 million laying hens in Germany — it will also affect nearly all of the 30 million laying hens in the Netherlands, as well as 10 million more in other European countries. This success has been achieved by engaging with German retailers to influence the KAT system, as all suppliers to grocery stores in Germany must comply with its standards. Germany imports a large number of eggs from other European countries because domestic production cannot meet demand.