Clemson to study chicken confinement behavior

Clemson University in South Carolina will be studying the impact of cage and non-cage-production systems on the behavior and physiology of chickens.Pressure from animal rights groups to ban battery cages is up against egg industry leaders who say there isn’t enough science for analysis and possible alternatives.

If production conditions are forced to change – then that affects producers’ bottom line. More than 90 percent of the 90 Billion eggs produced in the U.S. come from high density cage systems. In 2007, U.S. egg sales exceeded $6-and-a-half Billion dollars. South Carolina egg sales are about $90 Million dollars a year.

At Clemson, animal behavior scientists will observe half the chickens in commercial cage conditions and the other half in a pen or floor environment with “a lot of enrichment and stimulation.”

Votes in five states, where the animal rights group HSUS has been heavily influential, have passed ballot initiatives to restrict or remove livestock and poultry from confinement. Ohio is the next apparent target and it’s the second leading state for egg production.

Clemson University chicken study