Received: May 19, 2025 / Accepted: Aug 25, 2025 / Published: Sep 30, 2025
The effects of conventional cage and cage-free systems on the welfare quality of laying hens have been assessed recently, but with conflicting results. This study aimed to identify the welfare issues of laying hens when kept in a battery cage or deep litter system. In the cage system, white hybrid hens were kept in three cage lines, with three hens per cage and two tiers per line. In the deep litter system, hens were equally allocated to three compartments of a barn. A total of 450 hens were randomly chosen from different locations of barn and cages for scoring by one assessor at 5% of laying, peak period, and end of laying with several main health and social behavior parameters according to Welfare Quality (2009). The logistic analysis was applied using a proportional odds model to compare the prevalence of each welfare measure between the two housing systems at 5% significance level using R software. Hens in the conventional cages had worse plumage conditions and keel bone deformations than those in the deep litter system, especially at the end of laying (P < 0.05). In the deep litter system, hens showed a higher prevalence of foot pad dermatitis (46.0% hens scored 1 in the deep litter system compared with 11.33% in cages) and a higher avoidance distance test at the different ages (P <0.05) than those in the battery cages. The deep litter system showed more benefits for hen welfare than the battery cages except for foot pad dermatitis.
