If the cage-free transition takes place in the U.S. but not in the rest of the world, then the U.S. egg market would become more isolated and supply fluctuations would have a greater impact on egg price because of lost export markets.

As part of Egg Industry magazine’s annual Top Egg Company Survey, egg producers were asked their opinion of how U.S. laying hens will be housed in 2025. Twenty five egg producers, who currently house 144 million hens, answered this question. The average of the 25 predictions was that 52.6 percent of hens would be housed in conventional cages, 2 percent would be in enriched cages and 45.4 percent would be housed cage-free. The predictions for the percentage of hens in conventional cage housing in 2025 range from 15 to 85 percent. The predictions for the percentage of U.S. hens that will be housed cage-free in 2025 range from 14 to 80 percent, and the predictions for enriched cage housing ranged from 0 to 10 percent.