Scotland plans to ban caged chickens

The Scottish Government wants to gradually convert all laying hens in the country to cage-free farming. A complete ban on keeping poultry in cages is planned to be introduced by 2034, reports the poultry portal poultryworld.net. As the publication writes, citing data from the Scottish government, the UK introduced a complete ban on battery farming of chickens in 2012. Since then, improved cage designs have been used to allow the birds to engage in their natural behavior. There are currently around 1.1 million caged chickens in Scotland. However, polls have shown that 88% of the country's population considers this practice cruel and 77% support the introduction of a complete ban on the use of cages in poultry farming. “If the ban is introduced, it will be further evidence of Scotland's leadership in protecting animal welfare, as the country is the first in the UK to establish such a practice,” the publication quotes a statement from Scottish Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie. ...