New EU legislation will ban the use of battery cages for egg-laying hens from 2012.

BBC: Northern Ireland Assembly

An EU ban on battery cages saw better conditions for egg-laying hens.

BBC: Your highlights of 2012 in drawings

And almost nine in ten of 32m egg-laying hens are kept in cages.

ECONOMIST: Animal welfare: Foxed | The

And chickens across Europe will breathe more easily after the implementation of an EU directive banning traditional battery cages for egg-producing hens.

ECONOMIST: The law may sometimes save an ass

First, in 2002 the egg industry set new animal welfare guidelines, forcing farmers to give their hens more room to cluck, in turn cutting the number of birds able to be housed.

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