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Updated 28 June 2002, 09.19 
Most of you eat eggs but do you care how they get onto your plate?
Over 24 million hens in the UK spend their lives cooped up in cages. The government wants to know if they should get rid of battery cages for good.
But what do you think?
Do you hate the thought of eating eggs laid by a battery hen?
Or do you think people are making a fuss over nothing and as long as the egg tastes ok it doesn't matter?
Unfortunately this topic is now closed but there are Comments pages on other subjects on the main Chat index.
 How would you like it if it was you in a cage which wasn't even big enough to turn around in? We eat their eggs for breakfast without thinking twice what cruelty they go through. It is not going to cost you more than a pound to get free range eggs!
Christina, 13, Hertfordshire
I think it's really horrible how people can treat those hens so dreadfully. Hens are animals just like dogs and they deserve just as many rights.
Katherine, 13, Southport
It is so mean...I mean how would you feel if you were cooped up in a cage all your life and then at the end you just get killed for living a hell? The vast amount of hens should be free-range, not anything else.
Serena, 11, Putney
It's sick. The whole idea of treating these poor animals in a way that no humane person would consider treating their pets shows just how unreasonable and cruel it really is. These animals have their beaks burnt off when young and the males are simply 'disposed' of. Please explain 2 me how that is acceptable? It's sick.
Carly, 14, Jersey
I think that all battery farming should be stopped and that all hens should be allowed to roam freely, eat organic foods and not be treated with hormones etc. They should also be humanely killed and allowed to live a good life. It is only because farmers are greedy for profits that they invented battery farming. IT IS INHUMANE!!!
Jenny, 9, Bristol
I think it is really wrong that hens are kept in cages for their eggs, when they should be free. Free range eggs are healthier and better and we always buy free range.
Louis, 11, Warwickshire
Battery hen farming should be banned immediately as it is cruel and needless. Free range eggs taste better and are healthier.
Phillip, 10 Gloucester
Yes, I think the cages should be band!
its cruel and plain horrible. The chickens should be in a field running around playing with each other. I don't believe chickens should be killed anyway, that's why I'm a vegetarian. If there is no stopping that then the chickens should at least be kept somewhere nice!
Katie, 13, Waterlooville
It is pointless banning battery hens in this country, unless we ban battery farmed eggs coming in from abroad. We stopped intensive pig farming in this country, but we still import cheap bacon and ham from intensive farmed pigs.
Sam, 12, Brentwood
I think it's disgusting that the chickens are kept in such tiny cages, we depend upon them to survive, so we should be grateful.
Jennifer, 13, London
I think that using battery controlled chickens is wrong, but if they're needed: GO AHEAD!
Danniella, 11, London
I think hens being kept in a cage should put their owners in the cage and see if they like it. I bet they wouldn't like it one tiny bit.
Sirus, 12, Lancashire
Battery farming is horrible. I know that chickens are not very clever animals but they still deserve to be let out of small horrible cages. We own chickens and they have a large house with a run and they are allowed out in the garden all day. It is horrible how some people treat animals!
Alexandra, 13, Bristol
How would you feel if you were a chicken, and you knew other chickens were spending their lives on a farm, doing there own free will, while you were cooped up in a cage for the rest of your life? We should treat animals with respect!!!!!
Barbara, 10, Helensburgh
I definitely think it should be banned. You should treat animals with respect, the same way you treat humans.
Tamsin, 12, Bristol
I think battery farming is barbaric! Chickens should be able to live a life of pleasure before you stuff them in electrified water and kill them. Defending battery farming by saying " At least they get fed" is just stupid. You should feed an animal anyway. Whether it's a chicken about to be killed or a cat that you are going to allow live as long as possible. I disagree with Damien how can battery farmed chickens have mates, even if they did they would never have any enjoyable time with them anyway. Ashley, 10, London
I think that battery farming is really terrible and the fact that they get fed every day does nothing to compare to the fact that their feet are being cut into pieces on the wire mesh floor, the cramp and muscle pains they must get from the tiny cramped spaces and never seeing the light of day. Daniella, 12, London
I think it's extremely cruel. How would you like to be kept in a cage all your life, with no room to move, with mesh cutting into your feet? Chloe, 14, Leicestershire
My mum always buys eggs that are free range now because we have seen the awful conditions that the battery hens are kept in. I strongly believe that keeping animals in these conditions should be against the law and hope that the government choose to make it illegal. Katy, 14, St Austell
Damien, battery farmed Chickens don't have mates, they are forced into little cages where they are treated like monsters. Since I learned about it, I haven't even touched a battery farmed egg. My mother and father get really annoyed because non-battery eggs cost more, but I take a stand and put my foot down on this. Hannah, 11, Milton Keynes
I think keeping hens in those tiny cages is so wrong and it should be banned. It is cruelty to animals and I don't know why the RSPCA can't stop it from happening. My mum has not got much money but she will only buy free range eggs because she thinks it is to cruel for the battery hens to exist like they do. They don't have a normal life, it is worse than prison for them. Dean, 9, Weymouth
Ban battery farming. Chickens should have a natural and healthy lives - the chickens and eggs we eat would then be more healthy for us. Free range eggs taste much nicer than battery eggs! Karen, 12, West Midlands
I think they should make it illegal to keep
chickens in large cages with no room to live. Laying eggs until your
one day to old and then being killed so we can eat them. Robert, 11, Oxford
Animals should be treated with respect without them we'd all die we wouldn't lock humans up so why does it seem ok 2 do it 2 animals. Errin, 12, Cornwall
At least the chickens are fed every day and have their mates around them for company. Damien, 12, Fife
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