How new RSPCA Assured layer standards affect egg producers
© Tim Scrivener An overhaul of welfare standards for layers saw big changes introduced this summer.
Farmers who market their eggs with the RSPCA Assured mark must now comply with a raft of new and revised requirements.
From providing daylight in all sheds to increasing natural cover and the distribution of shelters on ranges, the changes have been far-reaching.
See also: Dark-brooding, trees and data transform poultry business
The RSPCA says the regulation updates were needed to ensure standards align with the latest scientific research, veterinary knowledge and practical developments, to allow “good practice” in farm animal care.
About 70% of the UK’s 26m-bird free-range flock is currently RSPCA Assured.
At 26 pages, the document that lists the new regulations is comprehensive and includes both fresh requirements and revisions of existing standards.
Enforcement will be overseen during annual inspections, but members can also be subject to any number of unannounced visits.
So, what are the key changes now in force?
Provision of natural daylight
Of all the standards, the requirement for natural daylight in all sheds has arguably caused the greatest concern among egg producers.
Barn houses built after 1 October 2025 must provide 3% natural daylight through windows, while a deadline of 1 May 2032 has been set for existing houses.
Free-range producers have the option of making this adjustment during a refurbishment cycle, or by 1 January 2035, whichever is earlier.
They can, however, apply for a five-year derogation if this requirement “cannot be reasonably and realistically achieved”.
While the RSPCA and RSPCA Assured have no up-to-date financial analysis on cost, they have quoted figures of between £1-£1.50 a bird for fulfilling the natural daylight requirement.
© Tim Scrivener
Permitting farmers to adapt housing during refurbishment cycles will reduce that cost, reckons Kelly Grellier, chief commercial officer at RSPCA Assured.
This is because workers will already be on site, making it “much more cost efficient”, she says.
Managing light levels in housing is a key approach used by many producers to reduce incidence of aggressive pecking.
The industry has expressed concern that the daylight requirement will diminish bird welfare, which the RSPCA disputes.
It says that one of the standards directs that it must be possible to readily control the amount of natural daylight entering a building to the extent that darkness can be achieved.
If veterinary advice is to reduce light to control aggressive feather pecking, the new standards have taken that into consideration, it adds.
Outlawing of barriers in multi-tier housing
Barriers that prevent birds gaining access to the underneath of multi-tier systems are now prohibited, except for the first seven days after birds have been placed in houses, or when flocks are depopulated.
Popholes
For currently approved buildings, where the base of a pophole is more than 45cm from the house floor, ramps or platforms that are at least 30cm wide must be installed to help birds access them.
For newly approved buildings, the pophole base must not be more than 25cm above the house floor or the ground level of the range.
Access to a pophole for a hen inside the shed should not be more than 20m away.
Range shade and shelter
For every 1,000 birds, there must be at least 8sq m of shade and shelter on the range, some of which must be within 20m of the popholes and available at all times.
The minimum requirement is for four shelters in every hectare of range area.
If the shade and shelter is provided by trees and these are deciduous or immature, producers must use supplementary shelters at times when the cover is inadequate.
© Tim Scrivener
Natural cover and enrichment
At least 5% of the entire range must have trees, shrubs or canopy-forming plants that give natural cover.
By 1 May 2027, this will need to increase, to at least 20% of the total range area.
Vermin baiting
Long-term baiting is no longer allowed as a tool for controlling vermin.
The standards state that site plans must highlight potential high-risk areas for wild animal activity, often locations where producers might have once routinely baited.
Antibiotics use
Prophylactic use of antibiotics is now banned. However, there is some relaxation of this rule in what the RSPCA describes as “very exceptional circumstances”.
Those scenarios might be when a vet believes it is in the best interests of a bird’s welfare for antibiotics to be given preventatively.
“We would expect these occasions to be extremely rare and limited to only one flock,” the RSPCA says.
Verandas
Producers with barn systems are “strongly encouraged” to install verandas “as soon as is practically possible”.
The RSPCA is instructing them to do this no later than 1 May 2030.
The RSPCA would like to see verandas in free-range systems too, and its Farm Animals Department is currently carrying out an in-depth review of this.
“Depending on the conclusion of this review, a phase-in date for the installation of verandas on all buildings may be set,” it says.
- Full details on the new standards (PDF) can be found on the RSPCA Assured website.
Phase-out of beak trimming
The new standards do not outlaw beak trimming, but the RSPCA wants the practice phased out completely within five years.
It “strongly encourages” egg producers who are managing good feather cover in consecutive flocks to trial intact beak birds.
It suggests producers focus their resources on achieving good feather cover “to facilitate a smooth transition to the requirement to have fully intact beak flocks as soon as possible”.
Case study: Stephen and Clare Morgan
Free-range egg producers Stephen and Clare Morgan welcome any improvements to bird welfare, but say they must be based on “good scientific evidence”.
Stephen and Clare Morgan © Debbie James
The Morgans produce eggs from 64,000 hens at Fenton Home Farm, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.
They say farmers need to be in control of light levels in sheds to prevent injurious feather pecking, and forcing poultry businesses to provide minimum levels of daylight is detrimental to hen welfare.
When they experienced an isolated issue with feather-pecking in one of their flocks, the only way they could manage it was by suppressing light in the housing.
“We tried everything, but the only way we could deal with it and calm the birds down was to make their environment darker,” Stephen explains.
The Morgans, who supply their eggs to Kent-based Fridays, estimate the new standards will add 4p to the price of a dozen eggs.
They point out that eggs imported from Europe will not have to comply with the new standards, putting British egg producers at an immediate cost disadvantage.
Another of the standards they disagree with RSPCA Assured about is the tree cover requirement.
“Trees will encourage wild birds to roost and rest, and that increases the [avian influenza] risk to our hens,” says Clare. “We don’t want wild birds anywhere near our hens.”