Egg production in Austria
Every year, 7.2 million hens (2023) lay around 2.2 billion eggs in Austria, which means that domestic farmers are able to meet 98 percent of the demand.
Management systems for laying hens
In 2023, the majority of laying hens in Austria was kept in barns (approximately 56 percent), followed by laying hens kept in free-range systems (around 31 percent) and in organic production systems (around 13 percent). The keeping of laying hens in enriched cages has been prohibited in Austria since 1 January 2020.
The table compares the management systems for laying hens used in 2023 in Austria and across the European Union (EU).
| Management system | Austria | EU |
| Laying hens total | approximately 7.2 million | approximately 387.4 million |
| Organic systems | 13.2 percent | 6.8 percent |
| Kept in free-range system | 31.2 percent | 15.8 percent |
| Barn-reared | 55.6 percent | 38.9 percent |
| Enriched cages | 0 percent | 39.2 percent |
Source: EU Statistics 2023, QGV (Österreichische Qualitätsgeflügelvereinigung Austrian Quality Poultry Association)
The 1st Animal Husbandry Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette II 2004/485, sets out the minimum requirements for animal management, including laying hens.
In Austria, a final end was put to enriched cages at the end of 2019. Austrian farmers that keep laying hens need to meet several criteria in order to enhance animal welfare and sustainability. These include, among other things, GMO-free feed, the use of Donau Soja, no beak trimming with laying hens, the documentation of animal health via the Poultry Health Data database and egg marking at the farm of production as well as documentation of lows of goods and safeguarding by using the Austrian Egg Database.
In all Member States of the European Union a standardised labelling directly on the eggs has become mandatory, allowing every consumer to fully trace back an egg's origin to the egg farm.
The egg labelling explained
| Egg labelling: X-YY-ZZZZZZZ | ||
| X: Figure corresponds to the management system for laying hens |
Y: Letter abbreviation of the producer country | Z: 7-digit registration number of the agricultural holding (LFBIS) |
| 0 = organic management | Examples: AT = Austria | Example: 1234567 |
| 1 = kept in free-range system | DE for Germany | |
| 2 = barn-reared | NL = Netherlands | |
| 3 = kept in cages | FR for France |
The Austrian Egg Database (Österreichische Eierdatenbank)) - which is unique within the EU – has been set up to ensure that every single Austrian egg can be traced back to its origin in a transparent way.
The Austrian Egg Database contributes significantly to warranting the quality and daily documentation of the flow of goods, id est eggs. As many as 90 percent of the fresh eggs available on the market are recorded in this database.
It is a voluntary system, but registration in the Austrian Egg Database is mandatory under the AMA quality label (“AMA Gütesiegel”) programme and when awarding the label "Tierschutz geprüft” (meaning "animal welfare tested").
Consumers can verify the stamp on the egg using the "Quick-Egg-Check". Once the laying hen farmer has agreed, not only the type of farming but also the name and address of the laying hen farmer can be queried.
In 2015, around 145,000 consumers seized the opportunity to trace the stamp on the egg; since 2016 approximately 360,000 persons annually have used this instrument around Easter. Since 2017, around 2,000 consumers have used this tool daily.
*Production and sale of fresh products is not permitted in Austria, as a processed product it is not subject to labelling requirements