Friends for Hens




Your
mission:

Put the chicken
before
the egg!
Get the word out
about cruel cages for hens. See if you can help your community go
cage-free.


Why?

Most
eggs produced in
the U.S. don’t come from Old MacDonald’s Farm. Instead, they come from

large factory farms. There, millions of hens are kept in battery
cages. Stacked one on top of another, each small wire cage may
hold
as many as 10 hens. Each hen has less space than the size of a sheet
of
paper.



Hens kept in battery cages can’t walk around or even spread their
wings.
Because battery cages are so bare, hens who live in them can’t do the
things they were born to do. They
can’t lay eggs in a nest or peck the
ground. While birds like to sit on branches or perches, hens in
battery
cages must stand on wire cage floors day after day. And, they have no
areas for taking dustbaths (fluffing dust on their feathers to keep
them
clean).



How?

Write letters and talk to your parents, friends, and school cafeteria
manager. Ask them to make the switch to cage-free eggs.



1.

Do your homework.
Read
Hens
Need a Hand to
get the facts.


2.

Family first.

Take a look at
the
egg carton in your fridge. Does it say "cage-free," "free-range,"
"organic," or "free-roaming" on the label? If not, the eggs probably
came from chickens confined in battery cages. Ask your parents that if

they keep buying eggs, why not choose only eggs that come from
cage-free
chickens?


You can have a talk with

your parents or even write them a letter. Think about making these
points:

• 
  
  
  Describe what life is
  like for hens confined in cages.
  
• 
  
  
  Explain why you would
  like your family to not buy eggs from caged chickens.
  
• 
  
  
  Ask your parents to
  look for the "cage-free" labels. They can find out more at
  EggLabels.com.
  
  
• 
  
  
  Thank your parents for
  what they have done to teach you kindness to animals.
  

3.

Cage-free cafeteria.


While you may not see scrambled eggs on

your lunch menu, cafeterias use a lot of eggs in cooking. Think of all

the eggs that go into the cookies and breads served. Using eggs from
hens who don’t suffer in cages will help a lot!


Set up a meeting
with your school's principal or cafeteria manager to ask about the
eggs
used at school. Explain why you would like the school to switch to
cage-free eggs. if you're not in an animal club at school, see if any
friends or classmates want to help. Ask them to go to the meeting with

you.


Email us at
kids@humanesociety.org or
call 860-434-8666, extension 13. (Be sure to get permission to call
long
distance first.) We'll work with you every step of the way in your
efforts to get your school to go cage-free.


4.

Pass it on.
Whatever your
family
or school decides, you can still help hens by teaching others. Write
letters to your local newspapers about life for hens in cages. Ask
readers to choose cage-free if they buy eggs. Place flyers in your
school, library, community center, and other public areas. Request
extra
copies of Hens Need a Hand by

e-mailing us. Tell your community that people care about
egg-laying
hens.


5. Tell us about it.
We want to know about
your
work to help egg-laying hens. Fill out our
Mission:
Accomplished form.
Then send us copies of your flyer and the letters you have written.
We'll send you a Humane Society Youth messenger bag!
http://www.kindnews.org/Mission_Humane/friends_for_hens.asp

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