This is our moment to end cages for hens

Enter your own personal details. For Question 7 select "Consumer".

FOUR PAWS advice – Tick ALL the boxes next to these statements:

• Improved physical wellbeing  
• Improved expression of natural behaviours  
• Improved choice over movement and environment  
• Improved mental wellbeing 
• Other – Specify Below

FOUR PAWS advice - In the box, pick a couple of points that matter to you (movement, natural behaviours, mental wellbeing, bone health) from the suggestions below and give a sentence or two of explanation, but please make sure you write in your own voice and do not copy/paste otherwise your response will not be counted:

• Cages stop hens doing basic things like walking properly, fully stretching/flapping wings, and moving away from stress or aggression.
• Hens are strongly motivated to forage, scratch, dustbathe and explore - and cages don’t provide proper litter or space, so these behaviours are impossible or only “token” versions. 
• Cages also prevent key comfort behaviours like perching and roosting up off the ground, and they don’t provide appropriately secluded nesting spaces - all of which hens are highly motivated to use. 
• Cage-free systems give birds more choice and control: where to rest, where to lay, when to move, and how to use space - that “agency” is a real welfare benefit, not just “survival”. 
• Better movement and access to perches/platforms supports stronger bodies and comfort - exercise helps reduce bone weakness and fractures and improves overall physical wellbeing. 
• Mental wellbeing improves in a more complex, stimulating environment - barren confinement is linked to frustration and can contribute to welfare problems like injurious feather pecking; and the ban must include pullets and breeder layers so suffering isn’t just shifted earlier in life or into “hidden” categories. 

You should tick the “Agree” box. 

FOUR PAWS advice - Pick two to three points from the suggestions below (but please make sure you write in your own voice and do not copy/paste otherwise your response will not be counted) - especially why stopping new cage installations in 2027 matters:

• Enriched/colony cages are still cages - they still restrict movement and block key natural behaviours like perching/roosting, foraging, dustbathing and proper nesting. 
• Even “enriched” cages can’t deliver a good life: they’re restrictive and barren compared with well-designed cage-free systems, and don’t meet hens’ behavioural and physical needs. 
• A 2027 installation ban stops the problem getting worse by preventing new long-life cage infrastructure being locked in right as the UK is trying to phase cages out. 
• It creates clarity for farmers and investors: “Don’t sink money into systems we’re moving away from” - that helps the whole sector plan with confidence. 
• It’s unlikely to disrupt egg supply because the market is already shifting away from cages (cage egg demand is declining and retailers have been moving to barn/free-range), so new colony cages are increasingly unattractive anyway. 
• Welfare should apply across the whole system: include pullets and breeder layers so suffering isn’t just pushed earlier in life or into less visible parts of production. 
• This ban sends a clear regulatory signal that supports the sector’s direction of travel - away from cages - while preventing further investment in poorer-welfare systems. 

You should tick the “Disagree” box - the proposed timeline is too long.

FOUR PAWS advice - Pick two to three points below and add a sentence from the suggestions below in your own words - especially why 2032 feels too late and what a better timeline would look like (please do make sure you write in your own voice and do not copy/paste otherwise your response will not be counted.  

• 2032 is too slow - it leaves hens, pullets and breeder layers stuck in an unacceptable system for years, despite us already knowing cages restrict movement and natural behaviour. 
• Enriched/colony cages are still cages: they don’t meet behavioural and physical needs (movement, perching/roosting, foraging, dustbathing, nesting) and can’t deliver a “good life.” 
• The public is ahead of the policy - the RSPCA has cited 2024 polling (Savanta) showing strong opposition to cages, so government should act faster in line with public expectation. 
• The UK risks falling behind other European countries already moving faster (France has restricted new cage systems and Germany is going cage-free), which undermines the UK’s claim to be a welfare leader. 
• A shorter, firmer end-date creates certainty and prevents “can-kicking” - long deadlines encourage delay and loopholes, and can tempt further investment in systems we’re meant to be phasing out. 
• Bring the end-date forward but do it properly: pair the ban with targeted support for remaining cage producers (finance/advice) and strong standards for well-designed cage-free systems, plus a more enabling planning process - so the UK doesn’t become reliant on lower-welfare imports. 

Tick the “Agree” box here.

FOUR PAWS advice - Choose the points below that feel most important to you - fairness, basic decency, and closing loopholes - and explain briefly why. But please make sure you write in your own voice and do not copy/paste otherwise your response will not be counted.  

• Welfare harms don’t shrink with flock size - a cage is a cage, whether it’s 50 birds or 50,000. 
• Conventional “battery” cages are fundamentally incompatible with good welfare: they severely restrict movement and block basic natural behaviours. 
• They prevent core behaviours hens are strongly motivated to do - perching, nesting, dustbathing and foraging - so the system can’t provide a decent quality of life. 
• Keeping a “small flock” exemption creates an obvious loophole and undermines the whole point of the ban; it also makes enforcement harder. 
• If it’s recognised as unacceptable at scale, it shouldn’t be acceptable in miniature - animal welfare shouldn’t depend on how many animals are suffering. 
• A consistent rule is clearer and easier to enforce, and it matches what most people already expect from basic welfare standards. 
• Cage-free small-scale keeping is realistic - many hobby keepers already keep hens cage-free, so this is achievable and long overdue. 
• This is about basic decency and consistency: no birds should spend their lives confined in a barren cage - and the ban should be in place by 1 January 2027 at the latest.