uBuilder Plans

You have heard the news stories about factory farming and animal abuses in the egg industry. Maybe it is time to do something about it... but WHAT can a normal working person with a family to feed ACTUALLY DO?

DO NOT BUY FACTORY FARMED EGGS.

You DO NOT have to become a VEGETARIAN to boycott factory farming - RAISE your OWN!

The City Biddy Hen House makes it easy to raise your own eggs. Your hens can see the sunshine, scratch in the grass, dust bathe, and live happy healthy lives, while providing all of the eggs your family needs. You know your eggs must be better for you, because your hens do not live crammed in a cage with so many others they can hardly move. Your hens have access to an outside run every day, where they can see the sun and breath fresh air. Factory hens live lives in wire cages hung over giant manure pits, breathing ammonia filled air and often never seeing the sun.

On The United Egg Producers website (which can be viewed at uepcertified.com/abouttheprogram.html) is the article entitled "United Egg Producers Certified Program - Egg Industry Establishes Welfare Guidelines". In this study animal welfare concerns for the factory laying hens are discussed including their space requirements. Part of the text reads as follows: "The Scientific Committee considered all types of egg production systems and concluded that all have their advantages and disadvantages and that both cage and non-cage production systems are humane and ethical. Because of the fact that approximately 98 percent of all layer flocks in the U.S. are housed indoors and in cages, the committee focused its recommendations on cage production. The committee concluded that depending on the size of the laying hen and the size and style of the cage, hens needed space of 67 to 86 inches per bird."

The City Biddy Hen House is approximately 3 feet by 3 feet of floor space or 9 square feet of total floor space just inside of the house. This converts into 1296 square inches of floor space. The egg industry humane standards allow an average of 76.5 square inches of floor space per light breed hen (White Leghorn is the most common commercial breed). That is a space 8.75 inches by 8.75 inches! This means that according to egg industry standards 16 hens would be housed in this amount of space. Actually even less space, since the City Biddy has two perches and a nest box area in addition to the floor space.

We only recommend the City Biddy be used to house 4 hens of this size (3 - 4 pounds) and only 3 hens of standard size
(4 - 6 pounds) AND we feel that the coop should be used ONLY with an attached run. The run allows the hens that extra space and freedom they need to stay truly healthy.

If families across America would stop buying "store" eggs and raise their own we could make a real dent in the factory farm problem.