At only five days old battery chicks are debeaked.  This painful mutilation is carried out to reduce the effects of cannibalism caused by the overcrowded and stressful living conditions.  Debeaking can cause life long pain and impair the hen's ability to eat normally.  Farms that do not debeak often turn their lights down so much that the birds live their entire lives in darkness

Intensively raised hens that are raised for egg laying are imprisoned for life in a battery cage, where each bird's living space is less than a sheet of A4 paper. This extreme confinement denies a hen most of her natural behaviours.  She can't walk, stretch her wings, peck and scratch or dust bathe.                                         

She is forced to stand on a sloping wire floor which causes considerable discomfort and often leads to foot injuries.  She will suffer feather loss and skin damage due to constant rubbing against other birds and the wires of her cage.   
      
Selective breeding has resulted in hens now laying around 320 eggs per year, rather than the normal 20 that her wild ancestor would lay.  As egg shells are made of calcium, this abnormally high number of eggs severely depletes the bird's calcium levels.  This, combined with the inability to exercise can lead to osteoporosis and broken bones.

Despite the fact that the battery cage is internationally condemned as inhumane in New Zealand 2.8 million hens  continue to suffer these appalling conditions. The battery hen is killed at just 18 months, well short of her normal 10 to 15 year life span. She will never see the light of day or experience a natural outdoor environment