Lakeside farmer Frank Hilliker looks at the changes on his ranch this way: "It's like chicken Disneyland."
Hilliker is talking about the changes he's made to his egg farm to comply with a California law that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015.
The law goes back to Proposition 2 that was passed by voters in 2008. It bans close confinement of farm animals in cramped cages and crates.
So California farmers have been forced to make their cages bigger with fewer chickens per cage or eliminate the cages altogether, an option chosen by Frank Hilliker.
"Right now it's a learning curve," said Hilliker, "learning how to feed them properly in a cage-free environment. Learning how to care for them because it's a different ballgame than when they are in cages."
Hilliker's ranch has converted one of the barns to cage-free. It cost more than $200,000 for the conversion, and the barn now holds half the number of chickens.
That's one reason the wholesale price of his eggs has jumped more than 80¢ a dozen in the past 12 months, Hilliker said.
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Farmers say the new methods often require fewer chickens in the same space.
"There's more labor obviously entailed in a cage-free operation," said Hilliker, "because every day you have to go on an egg hunt."
California cannot keep up with its own egg demand but out-of-state farms that want to furnish eggs must also meet the state requirements. Despite legal action, farms in the Midwest and South must follow the law to sell eggs in California. That could also be driving up prices.
