Huevos Guillén, a major supplier to supermarket chain Mercadona, expects 80 percent of its 6.13 million hens to be cage-free by the end of 2026. The company aims for all fresh eggs sold to consumers to come from cage-free systems by 2028, marking a wider shift in production.

Credits: Unsplash; Author: Thomas Iversen;

The investment includes a €14.5 million free-range farm in Badajoz with capacity for 320,000 hens and outdoor space of at least four square metres per bird.

Cage-free production is also growing across the wider Spanish egg industry, increasing by more than 10 percent last year. Alternative systems now account for around 40 percent of the country’s egg production.