TREATMENT OF HENS Laying hens are an egg producer's living and are treated with care. Like humans, hens seem to be more productive when they're healthy. In 1945, the average hen laid 151 eggs per year. Now, as a result of breeding and better nutrition, housing and general management of facilities, the average hen lays between 250 and 300 eggs per year.

Although the housing and caging of laying hens may seem to limit their freedom, the system is actually designed for the welfare of the birds as well as for production efficiency. In the hen house, the birds may more readily be protected from the elements, from disease and from both natural and unnatural predators (cars).

Housing the hens also makes it possible to control their diet which results in better-fed hens and eggs of more uniform quality. Scientifically balanced feed insures that the birds are protected from improper or inadequate diets - a vast improvement over the days when hens foraged for food in barnyards or ate household scraps.

Chickens, like some other animals, may exhibit cannibalistic tendencies. To protect the birds from each other, part of their upper beaks or both lower and upper beaks are cut off. The debeaking process is done by a special machine which cauterizes the beak and may be compared to clipping a dog's claws. Of course, the birds are still able to eat and drink. Some hens are even treated to piped-in music. -see Production