Emotive Subject

Jane Howorth, founder of the British Hen Welfare Trust, takes a look at beak-trimming

- Jane Howorth

Beak trimming has come under much scrutiny in the national press of late, with undercover operations exposing this practice to the wider public.

However, beak trimming is nothing new and farmers have been employing the practice for decades in order that their flocks do not feather peck each other. It is legally termed a ‘mutilation’ which, by its nature, makes it an emotive topic.

The public want beak trimming to end, and the British Hen Welfare Trust does too - but only when we are sure that welfare will not be compromised, because the reasons for beak trimming are less well documented.