Friends for Hens

Your mission: Put the chicken before the egg! Get the word out about cruel cages for hens. See if you can help your community go cage-free.

Why? Most eggs produced in the U.S. don’t come from Old MacDonald’s Farm. Instead, they come from large factory farms. There, millions of hens are kept in battery cages. Stacked one on top of another, each small wire cage may hold as many as 10 hens. Each hen has less space than the size of a sheet of paper.

Hens kept in battery cages can’t walk around or even spread their wings. Because battery cages are so bare, hens who live in them can’t do the things they were born to do. They can’t lay eggs in a nest or peck the ground. While birds like to sit on branches or perches, hens in battery cages must stand on wire cage floors day after day. And, they have no areas for taking dustbaths (fluffing dust on their feathers to keep them clean).

How? Write letters and talk to your parents, friends, and school cafeteria manager. Ask them to make the switch to cage-free eggs.

1. Do your homework. Read Hens Need a Hand to get the facts.

2. Family first. Take a look at the egg carton in your fridge. Does it say "cage-free," "free-range," "organic," or "free-roaming" on the label? If not, the eggs probably came from chickens confined in battery cages. Ask your parents that if they keep buying eggs, why not choose only eggs that come from cage-free chickens?

You can have a talk with your parents or even write them a letter. Think about making these points:

• Describe what life is like for hens confined in cages.

• Explain why you would like your family to not buy eggs from caged chickens.

• Ask your parents to look for the "cage-free" labels. They can find out more at EggLabels.com.

• Thank your parents for what they have done to teach you kindness to animals.

3. Cage-free cafeteria. While you may not see scrambled eggs on your lunch menu, cafeterias use a lot of eggs in cooking. Think of all the eggs that go into the cookies and breads served. Using eggs from hens who don’t suffer in cages will help a lot!

Set up a meeting with your school's principal or cafeteria manager to ask about the eggs used at school. Explain why you would like the school to switch to cage-free eggs. if you're not in an animal club at school, see if any friends or classmates want to help. Ask them to go to the meeting with you.

Email us at kids@humanesociety.org or call 860-434-8666, extension 13. (Be sure to get permission to call long distance first.) We'll work with you every step of the way in your efforts to get your school to go cage-free.

4. Pass it on. Whatever your family or school decides, you can still help hens by teaching others. Write letters to your local newspapers about life for hens in cages. Ask readers to choose cage-free if they buy eggs. Place flyers in your school, library, community center, and other public areas. Request extra copies of Hens Need a Hand by e-mailing us. Tell your community that people care about egg-laying hens.

5. Tell us about it. We want to know about your work to help egg-laying hens. Fill out our Mission: Accomplished form. Then send us copies of your flyer and the letters you have written. We'll send you a Humane Society Youth messenger bag!