What do chickens want? A veranda

Given the choice, hens would choose a veranda as part of their environment, say experts - but then, hens aren't given a choice
A chicken farm on the outskirts of Shanghai, China
Verandas – where there is overhead roofing but also open access to outside space – are a handy way of giving hens shelter when they need it. Photograph: Gillian Wong/AP

What do hens really want? It's a question that has been pondered for decades, or at least since the start of "battery farming" when the unfortunate animals were cooped up in tiny cages in vast warehouses without light and without break for the short duration of their miserable lives.

As it turns out, the answer is – what they'd really like is a nice veranda. Well, wouldn't we all?

Verandas – where there is overhead roofing but also open access to outside space – are a handy way of giving hens shelter when they need it, but allowing them fresh air and sunshine and the opportunity to pursue their natural behaviour, such as digging and scratching and moving freely about.

Christine Nicol, professor of animal welfare at the University of Bristol, says this is the best option for the birds. At times, she notes, such as when it is cold and wet ("like in Northern Ireland and Wales", she told a press conference on Tuesday) the hens do not want to go out. Having a veranda offers them protection from the elements, while allowing them space to move about outdoors.

This is a far cry from the battery cages of old, in which birds were confined in spaces so small they could not turn around, but could peck their neighbours' eyes out, and where they were often so infested by vermin that some lost most of their feathers, or were scalded by the bleach poured over them to rid them of disease.

Those disgusting conditions have rightly been banned in the UK, but the EU-wide phase-out was so badly managed that it put British farmers at a disadvantage – and left British consumers unknowingly buying eggs produced in appalling battery cages. That was because thousands of farmers on the continent were given leave to continue with the foul conditions long past the date of the start of the ban in 2012, because they claimed they were not ready to meet it in time – despite the fact that it was phased in over 10 years. There is also no way of knowing whether many imports of egg products are from hens raised in batteries. British farmers obeyed the rules from the start, and many have seen their investment in better housing undercut by cheap imports.

Now, farmers can either allow their hens to go free range, or choose a form of cage that allows scores of birds to be kept in a small cage that has some basic amenities, such as a perch and some bedding.

However, neither sort may necessarily have access to a veranda. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was unable to say how many would in the UK. On some small free-range farms, the facilities can be relatively basic despite having plenty of room in the open to scratch about - birds may lack adequate perches, scratching posts and other amenities. In particularly small flocks, hens may exhibit anti-social behaviours and "bully" other hens by pecking. Some larger flocks may allow hens to avoid this behaviour, as they have more space and more choice over socialising. Nicol compares it to people living in a village or a city.

So smaller farms are not necessarily better, according to Nicol and fellow experts Anne Davis, chair of the Pig Veterinary Society, Tim Brigstocke of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, and Toby Mottram, professor at the Royal Agricultural University. Vets can have better access to livestock on larger farms, where animals may be better supervised and kept under tighter watch - provided the farmer has not tried to cut costs by reducing staff.

They have called for an increase in the proportion of large farms within the UK's agricultural sector - while pointing out that larger farms does not have to mean more intensive farming.

Animal welfare campaigners point out, however, that antibiotic use is frequently higher on larger farms. It is impossible to tell the quantities of antibiotics used on poultry farms in the UK, because the numbers for pigs and poultry are conflated and not broken out by Defra. The over-use of antibiotics in farming has been associated with the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance, which can be passed from animals to humans. Campaigners want far more supervision of the use of medicines on farms, but so far the government has resisted this as unnecessary "red tape".

Campaigners are also concerned by reports that birds may suffer less injury, such as broken limbs, if kept in cages. That may be good for farmers, but the reason for the difference is likely to be that the hens are so confined that they cannot indulge in natural behaviour.

Despite some reports on Wednesday claiming caged hens live happier lives than free-range ones, by far the best option for poultry, according to Nicol, is to have free range birds that have access to pleasant amenities as well as outside space, including a veranda, and that are well-supervised with frequent veterinary attention. That would require some tightening of the current rules, because at present some smaller farms can claim free range status without meeting some of these conditions.

Given the choice, hens would choose a veranda as part of their environment – but then, hens aren't given a choice. A battery cage, a "furnished" cage, a "colony" cage, an "enriched" or a "modified" cage? It may be a bit like asking whether you'd rather be in Wormwood Scrubs or Broadmoor, according to animal welfare campaigners.

Says Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association:

"Saying that being shut up in a cage is better for a chicken than living in free-range and organic systems is as silly as saying we would all be happier living in a prison cell. The idea that dull, immobile, caged chickens that cannot stretch their wings, scratch and peck in the soil, take dust baths and feel the sun on their backs are better off than free-range and organic chickens defies common sense. In this case, when they buy eggs and chickens, consumers are definitely better off relying on their common sense."

A Defra spokesperson said: "We have some of the highest animal welfare standards anywhere in the world. They apply equally whatever the size of the farm or method of production. There are regular on-farm inspections to ensure standards are met."

In England and Wales, there are nearly 2,250 free range egg farms and about 210 free range poultry farms.

Defra said keepers of free-range laying hens must comply with a maximum stocking density of no more than nine laying hens per square metre of usable area and provide access to the outdoors for at least half of their hens' lives, where they must have a minimum of one square metre each. The government carried out 222 welfare inspections to free range laying hen holdings in 2012, but was unable to say how many farms - if any - had failed inspection.