Data released by USDA in the Egg Markets Overview reflecting April 1, 2025, confirmed growth in cage-free production by 23.7 percent since 2015 with a corresponding decline of 37.2 percent in the U.S. caged flock.  Over the period 2015 through 2025, caged hens declined in number from 256.1 million to 160.8 million.  Concurrently, the cage-free flock increased from 37.3 million hens to 125.7 million.  Total hens in production showed a 2.1 percent decline from 293 million to 287 million over the period mainly due to the ongoing HPAI epornitic.  In 2015, cage-free hens represented 12.7 percent of hens in production but increased to 43.9 percent in April 2025. Over the past five-years, cage-free hens increased by 13.3 percent and caged hens decreased by 36.4 percent.

In reviewing the non-organic cage-free population, barn and aviary-housed hens increased by 299.6 percent from 22.5 million to 89.9 million.  Free-range housing increased from 1.5 million by 420 percent to 7.8 million hens.  In the high-value pastured category, there were 2.0 million hens in 2015 increasing by 280 percent to 7.6 million at the beginning of April 2025.  Clearly the three major categories of cage-free, non-organic production moved upwards as caged hens declined in number but with a relatively higher rate of growth than the caged category impacted disproportionately by HPAI.

During the first three months of April 2025, depopulation due to HPAI attained 19.6 million caged hens or 6.9 percent of the productive flock compared to 11 million cage-free (all categories except organic) or 3.9 percent of the producing flock.  Losses in certified organic flocks were proportionately lower at 26,000 hens or less than 0.1 percent of the productive flock.

The relative impact of increased demand for cage-free eggs due to state mandates and commitments by retailers and restaurants is shown in the table below:

In reviewing trends in organic production, the total number of hens in this category increased 80.5 percent from 2015 through April 2025 from 11.3 million to 20.4 million encompassing the three major categories of certified organic production. Barn-housed hens increased by 40.0 percent from 9.0 million to 12.6 million.  Free-range increased by 164.7 percent from 1.7 million to 4.5 million.  The pastured organic category, increased by 371 percent from a small base of 700,000 hens to 3.3 million. There was an evident plateau at 2.7 million from 2020 through 2022 followed by increases in 2023 and 2024.

The rate of lay among cage-free flocks increased from 287 eggs per hen in 2015 representing an average of 78.6 percent hen-day production to 310 eggs per hen in 2025 equivalent to an average of 84.9 percent hen day production.  This eight percent increase reflects improved equipment and housing and more appropriate management with special emphasis on compatibility between rearing and laying systems, selecting correct levels of lighting, and training of flocks before and after transfer.