Enriched cages will be banned in 2021, but so-called colony cages will continue to be allowed. Good animal welfare is also not possible in these adapted cages.

Cage systems

About 15 years ago, most Dutch laying hens were still kept in battery cages, now the vast majority live in free-range systems, with or without free range. However, more than 6 million of the nearly 50 million Dutch laying hens are still housed in cage systems. This concerns so-called "enriched" cages and colony cages: cages that are slightly less bare than battery cages and that offer the animals a little more space. In practice, these cages do not meet the needs of the animals, so they do not have good welfare.