Over the years we have reported on investigations, videos and complaints about the inhumane treatment that laying hens suffer on farms. The story is always the same: mistreated animals, injured bodies, normalized suffering. But this time it’s different. For the first time what speaks to us are not stolen images or testimonies of activists, but an Italian scientific study, conducted by two public institutions: the University of Padua (DAFNAE Department) and the Istituto Zooprophylattico Sperimentale delle Venezie. And the picture that emerges is terrible.
All chickens suffer, in every type of farming
The study, conducted between 2022 and 2023 in a slaughterhouse in Porto Viro (Rovigo) and published in the international journal Poultry Scienceanalyzed 30,000 hens from 50 Italian farms – in cages, on the ground, and multi-level (therefore excluding organic) – discovering that almost all the animals present serious injuries, in particular fractures and deviations of the sternum, burns and dermatitis on the legs, blisters and sores similar to bed sores.
On average, 77% of hens have a deformed sternum, almost half have burns or dermatitis on their feet and one in five has obvious fractures. Unmistakable signs of chronic pain, stress and daily malaise. The fractures observed on animals at the end of their career are not isolated incidents, but the direct result of a life spent in cramped spaces, with hard and poorly designed structures.
The chickens live for two years in environments that hurt them every day: rigid perches, metal surfaces, old and overcrowded sheds. The bones, already weakened by the continuous consumption of calcium for egg laying, break or deform when in contact with the structures. The sternum bends, calluses and painful bumps form.
Burns and sores on the paws are another constant. They affect one in two hens and are due to dirty and damp bedding, unsuitable floors and poor management of sheds. In older farms, the litter is changed only once a year, with a buildup of ammonia that corrodes skin and paws.
Blisters on the chest, similar to bedsores, affect almost 10% of animals: they are contact wounds, due to constant pressure on hard surfaces. A silent and continuous suffering, completely ignored by the production system.
And unfortunately these conditions do not only concern cages, but also “free-range” or “multi-level” farms, those that the average consumer considers “more ethical”. However, the study confirms that none of the intensive farming systems really guarantee a dignified life.
The problem is not just space, but management
The study leaves no room for doubt: the real problem is the management of intensive farming, not just the amount of space or the type of structure. Even systems that are presented as more “ethical” or “alternative” — those on the ground or on multiple levels — do not really guarantee a better life for chickens.
In so-called enriched cages, designed to offer a minimum of comfort, hens develop more sternum lesions. In free-range farms with only one level, however, there are more burns and dermatitis on the legs, due to dirty bedding and constant humidity. Multi-level facilities seem slightly less critical, but the problems remain as the animals are injured, stressed and confined to environments that make them suffer every day.
In essence, the structures change, but the substance does not change: the chickens continue to live badly, feel pain and are treated like egg-laying machines.
And meanwhile the consumer, convinced that he is choosing more consciously, is disoriented and deceived by labels and slogans that promise well-being where well-being does not exist at all.
The truth is that all chickens, in any type of intensive farming, live a life of suffering. And now we can no longer pretend not to know.
