Scott has run his own farm for about ten years, and for most of that time, his chickens – like the vast majority both in British Columbia and around North America – were confined to cages. In 2014, though, Scott decided to join an increasing number of egg producers and make the considerable investment to convert one of his two barns to housing free-range chickens.
It’s a move that came at a substantial cost, with the hope of profits down the line.
“I realised that’s the way of the future so I needed to personally change to meet the needs of our customers”, Scott said.
And with the announcement from fast food giant McDonald’s that it would source all its eggs from cage-free farms within a decade, Scott’s decision seems to have paid off.
Indeed, producers in Abbotsford – which is home to 67 egg farms, representing more than half of the B.C.’s total – are well-positioned to take advantage of an industry-wide move towards eggs generated by birds living outside cages. Those include free-run birds, which live in open barns, and free-range birds, which have access to the outside. A smaller subset of the latter category lays eggs that are certified as “organic”.
In 2014, a little more than 16 per cent of the eggs produced in British Columbia came from non-caged animals, up from nine per cent in 2007. Those numbers might be ticking up slowly, but with 840 million eggs produced in B.C. in 2014, they represent a huge quantity of food. Those “specialty eggs” are also sold for more money, and now represent around 22 per cent of all revenue. Driven largely by demand from grocery stores and their customers, B.C. already produces the highest proportion of specialty eggs in Canada.
Now, with McDonald’s and other companies seeking to differentiate themselves by emphasizing free-run eggs, the shift towards non-caged egg-layers will take “a quantum leap,” according to Brad Bond, the chair of the Abbotsford-based BC Egg Marketing Board.
The shift will only increase the incentive to produce more cage-free eggs, a move that will bring its own challenges and benefits.

The hens of John Lehman lay their eggs in the Premium+ XXL nest. This nest complies with the principles of animal-friendly production as it is developed based on the needs of the animals. The nest provides a sanitary and comfortable environment to lay eggs. The result is the production of first class quality eggs.

John Lehman; ‘’I have very good experiences with the nests. The flat top roof makes maintenance and control easy. The percentage of outside nest eggs is also very low.”