Near Lake Macquarie, on the central coast of New South Wales, Belinda Stauner-Dawson maintains a seemingly perfect haven for chickens. Her 60 ISA Brown hens, a favored breed for egg production, roam freely across 1.4 hectares of grassland. Every day, they have access to fresh greenery and can choose to stay or leave a custom chicken caravan equipped with a water tank, food, and roosting perches. Two permanent guardian Maremma dogs watch over the flock. Stauner-Dawson is dedicated to keeping her hens happy and markets their golden-yolk eggs to local customers and an organic butcher.
Despite the idyllic setup, challenges persist, such as regular treatments to control parasites, vigilance against diseases like avian influenza introduced by wild birds, and past issues with predation. “I used to lose many birds to wedge-tailed eagles and sea eagles, but since getting the dogs, I haven’t lost any to predation,” she states, noting the importance of her guardians. “If it weren’t for the dogs, we couldn’t have pasture-raised chickens.”
This method isn’t as profitable or scalable as others in the industry and requires a lot of land with fewer chickens. It’s a different approach compared to the broader industry. Sixty years ago, most eggs came from free-range or backyard farms. Today, Australia’s 19 million hens are housed in three primary systems: caged, barn-raised (which is often marketed as cage-free), and free-range.
Jed Goodfellow, from the Australian Alliance for Animals, spent eight years developing animal welfare standards for poultry. He highlights that while all systems have positives and negatives, issues like behavioral deprivation and disease are inherent in the cage system, while problems in cage-free systems can be mitigated with proper management. The Alliance supports calls for an end to cage egg production following international investigations revealing poor chicken welfare.
Brian Ahmed, president of the Victorian Farmers Federation egg group, shares that earlier in the 1960s, animal health focused on disease control and parasites. The shift to cages was seen as positive due to better disease control and lower antibiotic use, resulting in healthier and more affordable eggs.
Mills, a consultant primarily working with caged egg systems, cites a study commissioned by the Australian Egg Corporation – which found that while stress levels differed little among systems, variations were more pronounced between farms. He argues that there’s a trade-off between mortality rates (generally lower in cage systems) and the issue of confinement. Animal welfare advocates counter that while free-range systems face risks such as predation and disease, these can be managed, whereas issues related to confinement are fundamental to cage systems.
The egg industry’s complexity reflects various demands and welfare priorities. Some companies, like Canobolas Eggs and Somerville Eggs, offer eggs from all production systems. While Somerville Eggs’ Lou Napolitano states that their business caters to market demand, noting that free-range is often misunderstood as healthier for chickens due to better biosecurity in controlled environments. Despite the aesthetic appeal of free-range, Napolitano maintains that the sounds of content hens within their barns reassure him of their well-being, continuing the debate on the optimal production method for eggs.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/29/caged-eggs-phased-out-australian-farmers-free-range-hen-heaven
