Where do my eggs come from?

Free range

Free range eggs are those produced by layer hens housed inside a shed with access to the outdoors. The shed the hens live in may be fixed or portable, and are fitted with perches to roost on and nesting boxes to provide a quiet space to lay their eggs. The floor is covered in litter that provides opportunities to scratch and dust bathe. Pop-holes placed along the shed walls provide hens access to the range, where they can forage and explore their environment. Pop-holes may be closed off at night, when the hens roost and sleep inside up on the perches.

Barn-laid

Barn-laid eggs are produced by layer hens permanently housed inside a shed, who do not have any access to the outdoors. Hens are uncaged and can roam freely inside the shed, and have space to stretch their wings. They have perches to roost on, nesting boxes where they can lay their eggs, and litter on the floor that provides opportunities to scratch, forage and dust bathe.

Colony cage

Colony cage eggs are those produced by layer hens that are permanently housed indoors, inside colony cages (also known as ‘enriched’ or ‘furnished’ cages) for the duration of their lives. These eggs may be referred to as ‘colony eggs’.

Colony cages are cages stacked in rows within a barn, each generally housing up to 60 chickens. They include equipment for the hens to use such as perches, nesting areas and scratching pads. Around one third of New Zealand layer hens are housed in colony cages.

SPCA strongly opposes the use of colony cages for egg production as they fail to adequately meet the physical, health and behavioural needs of layer hens. They provide roughly 750cm2 per hen – slightly bigger than the size of an A4 sheet of paper – and do not allow them to fully display normal behaviours such as dust bathing, ranging, foraging, stretching, or choosing their own nesting sites.

While battery (or 'conventional') cages were phased out and could no longer be used in New Zealand from 1 January 2023, the layer hen industry still uses colony cages.

SPCA believes that all layer hens should be kept in appropriate cage-free systems, and advocates for colony cages to be phased out. You can read more about our position on colony cages here. 

When you buy eggs, look out for the terms ‘free range’, ‘barn’, and ‘cage-free’ on egg carton labels to help make an informed decision. You can also look out for the blue SPCA Certified badge. All SPCA Certified eggs are cage-free and come from barn and free-range farms, which are independently audited according to the SPCA Certified animal welfare standards for layer hens. By buying SPCA Certified eggs, you can ensure that they come from farms that follow best practice guidelines and standards, and that care about the welfare of their hens.

In 2017, the biggest supermarkets in New Zealand committed to supporting cage-free eggs. Woolworths committed to becoming 100% cage-free for the whole (shell) eggs on their shelves by the end of 2025, and supermarkets within the Foodstuffs Cooperative committed to using only cage-free eggs as ingredients in their own brand products by the end of 2027. In October 2025, Woolworths announced that they now only sell cage-free whole (shell) eggs in their stores. While they have not yet met their commitment to use only cage-free eggs as an ingredient in their own brand products, they say they remain dedicated to this goal. We encourage them to continue this good work and meet their full cage-free commitments.