Lilong Chai’s research looks to a cage-free future for poultry farming
Cage free. The term seems self-explanatory enough. Step inside a cage-free poultry house, and the reality is not far detached from the perception. A soft bed of wood shavings or sand litters the ground. Step carefully, as it’s likely you’ll find an egg or two scattered randomly underfoot. And there are chickens everywhere, freely roaming like a crowd at a flea market. Cage-free poultry systems—indoor aviaries that house colonies of up to thousands of birds—offer an improved level of animal welfare for egg-laying hens.