What new RSPCA Assured layer standards mean for farmers

Providing a minimum of 3% natural daylight in housing could cost free-range and barn-egg producers at least £1 a bird.

Other requirements within the new RSPCA Assured welfare standards require further cost, leaving farmers already operating on wafer-thin margins worried.

See also: Tips on ensuring poultry biosecurity measures are effective

About 70% of the UK’s 26m bird free-range flock are currently RSPCA Assured.

In return for marketing their eggs with the RSPCA Assured logo, producers must comply with a raft of standards that have been in place since 2017.

The many new standards are set to be introduced on 11 July.

They include upping tree cover on the range to at least 20%, from the current requirement of 5%, and the provision of shelters for hens at a minimum of 4/ha.

Provision of natural daylight

But of all the standards, the requirement for natural daylight in all sheds is the most contentious.

Free-range producers have the option of doing this during a refurbishment cycle, or by 1 January 2035, whichever is sooner.

However, they can apply for a five-year derogation if this requirement “cannot be reasonably and realistically achieved”.

For barn houses, 3% natural daylight must be provided by windows by 1 May 2032, and any barn houses built after 1 October 2025 must meet this requirement.

While the RSPCA and RSPCA Assured do not have an up-to-date financial analysis on how much this requirement will cost businesses, they have quoted figures of between £1-£1.50 a bird.

Old costings

Kate Parkes, senior scientific officer and poultry expert at the RSPCA, says it had commissioned Adas to produce a costings report – but that was in 2016.

“We do have that [report], but the challenge with it is that it is tied in with verandas as well,” she admits.

Verandas were a requirement for new-build, free-range members of the scheme.

These were set out in the initial iteration of the standards, but the requirement was dropped – although verandas must be installed on all barn buildings no later than 1 May 2030.

The figures in the Adas report were calculated on the basis of all daylight provision coming from windows, but the standard has since been adapted to allow popholes to contribute to the 3% requirement in free-range systems.

“Building manufacturers quoted that it worked out at about £1.50 a bird when looking at 3% daylight from windows,” says Kate.

“We would expect that to be lower for those doing it through popholes.”

Permitting farmers to adapt housing during refurbishment cycles will reduce cost further, resulting in a “massive impact on the cost”, according to Kelly Grellier, chief commercial officer at RSPCA Assured.

Workers will already be on site, making it “much more cost efficient” she reckons.

Welfare concerns

The push for the natural daylight standard did not come from consumers or the industry – it came from the RSPCA.

The organisation is at odds with many in the industry on this, as managing light levels in housing is a key approach producers use to reduce the incidence of aggressive pecking.

It worries the daylight requirement will diminish bird welfare, not improve it, and that providing daylight through popholes could lead to smothering.

RSPCA and RSPCA Assured have not run their own trials on the impact of daylight provision.

Instead, they have relied on recommendations in a European food safety authority scientific options report, Welfare of laying hens on farm, and drawn from farm assurance schemes operating in Europe to inform their thinking.

Kate says Better Life (Beter Leven) in the Netherlands and Germany’s KAT scheme (Verein für kontrollierte alternative Tierhaltungsformen eV) have a natural daylight requirement, and many of their members rear birds with intact beaks.

If farmers in those countries have the confidence to do that, providing “tangible, on-farm experience”, there is “a strong argument” to support natural daylight, she adds.

Consultation

Individual producers have expressed concern that they have never been consulted directly about the new standards.

But RSPCA Assured says every member was sent a survey in December 2023, although that was only after industry backlash to the initial set of proposals.

Kelly says just 13 survey responses were received, and RSPCA Assured had therefore transitioned to a “more collaborative way of working” through its standards technical advisory groups of producer members, vets and scientists, and regional groups.

She says the intention is to “bring producers with us in that collaborative way”.

However, she adds that RSPCA Assured is “different to other assurance schemes in that we are all about higher welfare standards, and we will always be about higher welfare standards, and those standards are the RSPCA standards”.

The RSPCA insists that prior to the standards being published, a “thorough consultation process’’ was followed.

“We’ve dedicated a lot of additional time over the last year listening to and collaborating with our members and the industry in response to their feedback,’’ it says.

Avian influenza risk

Another of the changes being introduced has also got farmers worried.

Increasing the range tree provision requirement to 20% from 1 May 2027 will increase the risk of avian influenza transmission, they suggest.

This is because the greater the number of trees, the greater the chances of attracting wild birds onto the range.

While Kate says this is a concern she is aware of, she points out other schemes already have this requirement, including the woodland scheme.

“That has given us confidence to say we understand the risks, but we have seen it working well in practice, and it is that balance of trying to encourage hens out onto the range and all the benefits that has.”

Enforcement of the new regulations will be overseen during annual inspections, but members can also be subject to any number of unannounced visits.

Full details on the new standards can be found on the RSPCA Assured website.

Case study: Stephen and Clare Morgan

Stephen and Clare Morgan © Debbie James

Free-range egg producers Stephen and Clare Morgan welcome any improvements to bird welfare, but say they must be based on “good scientific evidence”.

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.”