A state bill that would end the cruel confinement of egg-laying hens in Maryland has been re-introduced for the 2024 session. Help us pass this bill to protect hens from lifelong cruelty and ensure that Maryland residents can easily access more humanely produced eggs.
This bill will require that eggs produced or sold in the state come from hens raised in cage-free systems with enough room to spread their wings, explore, and carry out natural behaviors like perching and nesting. This is a critical step towards building a kinder, more humane food system in Maryland and beyond.
Countless egg-laying hens spend their days suffering, confined to small, wire “battery cages” on industrial factory farms. Nearly a dozen hens may be crowded together in a single battery cage, making it nearly impossible for them to move or turn around. These battery cages are stacked on top of each other in rows as far as the eye can see—in barren buildings sometimes as long as football fields! Birds languish every day in the waste falling from hens in the cages above them. This level of cruelty is extreme and must be stopped.
What You Can Do
The Maryland General Assembly has the power to ban inhumane battery cages, aligning Maryland with 15 other states that have already banned cruel farm animal confinement in some form.
Please use the short form below to urge your state lawmakers to support this bill and help create a more humane food system in Maryland.