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BATTERY
HENS |
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When you buy
eggs from the supermarket, do you know where they come from? Most of us
know that they come from hens, but do you know how the hens
live?
Most of the hens
in Australia live in small cages called battery cages. The cages are so
small that the hens do not have enough room to turn around properly or even to
stretch their wings.
There
are lots of things that hens like to do
but they
cannot because they are restricted.
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Hens like
to peck at the ground and then squat in the dirt, ruffling their wings.
This helps them to clean their feathers and is called dustbathing.
In the battery cage they have no room to do
this. |
| Hens also
like to lay their eggs in private but when there are so many other hens
around they cannot do this either. |
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Because
hens get so frustrated, living in such cramped conditions, they often peck
at each other from boredom. To stop this, when they are very young,
farmers cut off the end of their beak. This is called debeaking. It
is very painful for the little chicks and sometimes they cannot eat for a
few days as it hurts them too much.
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Can you
imagine what it would be like living in a tiny cramped cage with other
hens
every
single day of your life?
Some hens
are very lucky. They don’t live in battery cages.
| Some hens
are able to roam around outside and scratch in the dirt. These are called
free range hens. |
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Others
live in big barns, and although they cannot roam around outside they are
not locked in tiny cages. The eggs from these hens are called barn
laid. |
What can you do to help
hens?
There are a few
things that you can do to help hens.
| 1 |
You can
stop eating eggs altogether. |
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| 2 |
If you do
not want to stop eating eggs you can ask your parents to only buy free
range eggs or barn laid eggs. If enough people stopped buying
battery eggs the farmers would have to stop producing
them. |
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| 3 |
You can write to the Minister for
Agriculture in your state and ask him to stop the cruel battery
cage. Ask an adult to help you with the correct name and address to
send your letter
to. |
Here are
two pictures of hens living in different
homes.
| Battery Cage Hens |
Free
Range Hens |
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Which hens
do you think are the happiest?
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