Today, Gov. Steve Sisolak signed legislation that requires eggs sold in Nevada to be from cage-free facilities, no matter where the eggs were produced. It also bans the caging of egg-laying chickens in the state. The legislation also requires enrichments for egg-laying hens —like perches, dust-bathing areas and nests—which are essential for the hens’ well-being.
“This is a transformational win for chickens. No animals—including farm animals—deserve to be confined in cages so tiny they can barely move,” said Josh Balk, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society of the United States. “I’m grateful for Assemblyman Howard Watts for sponsoring the bill and speaking out so passionately for its passage. And I’m thankful for Gov. Sisolak signing this bi-partisan legislation into law, guaranteeing millions of chickens will never have to suffer in a cage.”
The majority of chickens in the egg industry are locked in barren, wire cages that are so tiny, the birds cannot spread their wings. They live their entire lives in an amount of space equivalent to that of an iPad.
Nevada is the ninth U.S. state to ban cages for egg-laying chickens, following Utah, Colorado, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The Humane Society of the United States is also working with the country’s largest food companies to end the use of eggs from caged chickens and to switch to cage-free.