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

In the early 20th Century it was the location of Buttercup Poultry Farm, which was the UK's largest poultry farm at the time with over 200, 000 laying hens.

BBC: Buttercup Farm Park

There are an estimated 390 million laying hens across Europe.

BBC: MPs urge export ban on eggs laid by battery caged hens

Tesco said its breakthrough was a "triumph" for the supermarket's programme to vaccinate all laying hens against salmonella, with attention now turning to wiping out traces of the bug in chickens.

BBC: Supermarkets 'have egg bug beaten'