Sick of paying too much for eggs? Blame the libtards who champion the alleged interests of chickens at our expense by demanding they be cage-free:
The current bird flu pandemic has seen nearly 150 million egg-laying hens culled in the US, driving prices through the roof.
Liberal California has been one of the hardest hit, where a 2018 law mandated that all eggs produced and sold in the nation’s most populous state be cage-free by 2022, coincidentally, the same year the current H5N1 outbreak began.
Cage-free does not mean ‘free-range,’ which is why cage-free chickens are likely at the forefront of the bird flu pandemic.
Or maybe not so coincidentally.
While a 2023 USDA analysis found no significant correlation between housing type and initial infection, it’s common sense that pathogens would spread faster in cage-free facilities.
As for the USDA analysis, Big Government studies tend to find the results they look for. That’s the point of the studies.
Unfortunately, what actual science denying liberals inflict in California does not stay in California:
California had been a top egg-producer, but such regulations forced farmers to flee the state and egg production has plummeted.
That didn’t stop the mandate from having a ripple effect across the entire industry, with eight other states following suit, and today 40% of eggs sold in the US are cage-free, up from just 5% in 2010.
Until the 2000s, most US chicken farmers had never heard of avian flu.
In fact, the previous century saw only three major pandemics.
Since 2004 there have been between five and 15 outbreaks (depending on how they’re defined) with the current one by far the deadliest.
And a third of the top 10 worst-hit states mandate cage-free facilities.
In fact, of the 13.6 million egg-laying hens that were depopulated in late 2023, California alone accounted for 30% of the loss, despite producing only an estimated 4% of the nation’s eggs
Turns out, social distancing is something governments only enforce on humans, not livestock.
Corporate posturing has played a part:
Before this year, cage-free eggs, rapidly becoming the industry standard thanks to California’s market influence and buyers like Walmart and McDonald’s pledging to go cage-free, cost between 20% and 130% more at grocery stores.
Not even the chickens benefit. Crowding the birds together instead of separating them in cages not only spreads disease but results in increased stress and even cannibalism due to pecking order issues.
Avian flu is spread by wild, migratory birds and enters a facility in any number of ways, from duck poop on boots to hitching a ride on rats.
While a 2023 USDA analysis found no significant correlation between housing type and initial infection, it’s common sense that pathogens would spread faster in cage-free facilities.
Critics also say such facilities are harder to clean; this may contribute to the spread, a January 2025 USDA report suggests most commercial flock infections are tied to farm-to-farm transmission.
Many farmers and advocates argue that cage-free conditions, where birds are packed indoors without bars, are worse for bird health and happiness than standard facilities.
“They’re more stressed in a cage-free environment because of the whole pecking order issue. There’s increased cannibalism,” chicken farmer Frank Hilliker of Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs in Lakeside, Calif., told the Post.
When it comes to the well-being of our feathered friends, it’s time to put trust back in our farmers and away from cage-free ideologues.
But at least liberals get a warm glow of righteousness when they see “cage-free” on their carton of eggs.
https://nypost.com/2025/03/01/opinion/why-cage-free-eggs-are-not-all-theyre-cracked-up-to-be/
