Sisolak signs bill that will ban the sale of eggs coming from caged chickens in Nevada

All eggs that hit shelves in the state of Nevada will soon be from cage-free chickens, according to legislation signed by Gov. Steve Sisolak Tuesday.

Assembly Bill 399 bans the caging of egg-laying chickens in the state and requires eggs sold in Nevada to be from cage-free facilities.

Enrichments for egg-laying hens such as nests, perches and dust-bathing areas are also required in the bill. Nevada is the ninth state in the U.S to adopt the banning of cages for egg-laying hens. The law will go into effect in stages starting on July 1, 2022.

The vast majority of chickens live in a space equivalent to the size of an iPad for their entire lives, according to the Humane Society of the United States. They are never able to fully spread their wings and are packed into wire cages.

Josh Balk, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society of the United States, says that caged chickens are unable to engage in normal activities like walking, scratching and dust-bathing by being packed together tightly for the sake of efficiency.

"Picture a cage the size of your home microwave and now picture eight chickens being stuffed in that cage," Balk said. "That's the life of chickens laying eggs in the egg industry today."

The number of cage-free egg-laying hens in the United States has grown since legislative campaigns started in state houses. Today, about 30% of egg-laying hens — about 100 million animals — are cage-free, Balk said. 

He added that the percent of egg-laying hens that were cage-free was in the low single digits before legislative campaigns launched by the Humane Society and other organizations bumped the percentage above 30%.

According to Balk, about 100 million animals who are now cage-free would have otherwise been confined in cages.

The new legislation could also help prevent the spread of disease since salmonella thrives when chickens are in caged settings, Balk said. That could apply to other diseases, too. 

"The United Nations came out with a scientific analysis of the leading causes of what could be potential new pandemics and the top causes had to do with raising animals and food production," Balk said. "Specifically, they had to do with the intensive confinement of farm animals."

The Nevada Farm Bureau, a state nonprofit dedicated to the interests of farmers and ranchers in the state, initially opposed the bill as they saw it too restrictive to smaller Nevadan chicken farmers.

Changes to the bill during the deliberation process that excluded farmers with 3,000 or fewer egg-laying hens shifted the position of the Nevada Farm Bureau from “opposed to neutral”, according to executive vice president Doug Busselman.

"Our sticking point was that the way the bill was introduced, it would've heavily affected Nevada producers and we didn't want to see that happen," Busselman said. "We were able to make that arrangement and were able to get the accomplishment that we got to make sure that if you have fewer than 3,000 hens then you won't be bothered by the requirement."

Follow reporter Terell Wilkins on Twitter, @terelljwilkins, call him at 252-367-8463 or email him at twilkins@rgj.com.