Thanks for the chance to make my thoughts known to those people who can improve current welfare codes.

I'd be all for a phase out of cages.

Here is my take on the language in the standards and guidelines...

In standard SA2.2, "skip-a-day" feeding is talked about - and even referred to as being "acceptable".

It's my belief that skip-a-day feeding is unacceptable. 'Breeding stock' chickens are basically starved. It's utterly unacceptable. This is especially cruel, as these birds have been bred to constantly eat.

When considering standards SA6.4 and SA6.5, it seems they contradict each other.

SA6.4: "A person in charge must ensure poultry are not exposed to continuous light or darkness in any 24 hour period except on the day of pick-up (meat chickens) and meat chickens during very hot weather".

Draft Standard SA6.5 however, says, "A person in charge must ensure poultry except for meat chickens, emus, ostriches and quail are exposed to at least 4 hours of continuous darkness within a 24 hour period".

This leaves room for misinterpretation. It appears that meat chickens both should and shouldn't be kept in continuously lit sheds.

I want to note that in Standard SA9.15, there are suggestions with regards to beak trimming, and how much of the beak to cut off. My feedback on this is that beak trimming actually should be banned altogether.

Improved husbandry and a lower stocking density can remove the problems that beak trimming is used to solve.

On pp11-12 of the draft standards, it's written that chickens deserve to have housing that allows them to "stand, lie and stretch their wings and limbs and perform normal patterns of behaviour", and allows them to have "social contact" with other birds. Chickens cannot socialise properly and express natural behaviours if they are confined to a cage, or kept in a densely populated shed.