Egg Fight Breaks Out Over Chicken Welfare Law

California ranchers are seeking ways to keep their hens in cages and still comply with the law. They say caging systems make it easier and more cost effective to feed hens, keep them clean and collect their eggs.

"The question is how much space" chickens must have, Debbie Murdock, executive director of the United Egg Producers, said on the group's Web site.

The recently introduced bill in Sacramento would require out-of-state producers who supply more than half of the 10 billion eggs consumed by Californians each year to treat their laying hens as well as Golden State producers.

California's $300 million egg industry, the fifth largest in the nation, warned in ballot arguments that passage of Proposition 2 would require hens to live outdoors.

The Humane Society countered the industry should have little trouble adapting since it already has its own guidelines for farmers who choose to raise hens cage-free. The guidelines call for perches, scratching areas and nests for chickens living in flocks.

"Now that Prop 2 is law, the egg industry is trying to punch a hole in it, undo the will of the voters," Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle wrote in a statement to the AP.