Call them birds of a feather. One by one, the country's major restaurant chains are promising to use only cage-free eggs.
Just this year, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, Taco Bell and others have made this eggsemplary commitment, responding to consumer demand for farm animals to be treated better.
So, the cage-free life isn't ideal -- but it's certainly better than some of the alternatives. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals paints a grim portrait of what life is like for most of this country's nearly 300 million egg-laying hens.
In many places, as many as 10 birds are crammed into a single wire cage with barely enough room to move. The hens often have their beaks cut down to keep them from pecking each other to death.
Open Philanthropy's Lewis Bollard estimates that 2015's announcements alone will spell a better life for about 30 million hens.
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Eventually.
Most of these changes will take a while to arrive. The timelines vary from company to company, but five to 10 years is a common estimate.
Still, animal advocates view this as progress -- no matter how slow -- toward the demise, someday, of battery hen farming, one of the industry's cruelest practices.
"Addressing animal welfare issues has gone from an option to a necessity for any corporation in the food industry," Josh Balk, senior director of food policy at the Humane Society of the United States, told The Huffington Post.
Here are 15 restaurant chains that have already committed to going entirely cage-free:
Taco Bell, by 2016
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Taco Bell wants to be the fastest fast food around -- at least when it comes to switching over to cage-free eggs. The company has promised to make that switch at each of its 6,000 U.S. locations by the end of 2016.
In September, McDonald's announced plans to use only cage-free eggs in its nearly 16,000 U.S. and Canadian restaurants. That adds up to about 2.12 billion eggs a year -- although the change is expected to take a decade.
Einstein Bros. Bagels says it will be using only cage-free eggs in the company's more than 600 stores by 2020.
Panera Bread, by 2020
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In November, Panera promised to use only cage-free eggs by 2020. About one-fifth of the company's laying hens are cage-free now. Panera says it uses about 120 million eggs per year.
Denny's new commitment sets 2026 as a deadline to complete its transition. Denny's is the first major family dining restaurant to commit to completely eliminate cages.
Subway, by 2025
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The Subway food chain gave itself a generous 10-year deadline to end the use of eggs laid by caged hens.
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Wendy's, by 2020
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Wendy's plans to start using only cage-free eggs in the United States and Canada by 2020.
Mondelēz International, by 2020
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Mondelēz International, which owns snack brands including Oreo, Chips Ahoy! and Triscuit, has set deadlines for completely ridding battery cages from its supply chain: by 2020 in the U.S. and Canada, and by 2025 in European countries where cages are not already banned.
Mars, Inc., by 2020
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Mars, Inc. -- the company behind M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles, and a host of other household candy brands -- has committed to eliminating caged eggs from its U.S., Canadian, and Australian supply chains by 2020. The company has already successfully eliminated cages from its European supply chain.
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Trader Joe's, by 2025
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Trader Joe's has set a goal to source all of their eggs sold nationwide from cage-free suppliers by 2025 -- with an interim goal to sell only cage-free eggs in western states (CA, OR, WA, AZ, NM, and CO) by 2020.
PepsiCo, by 2020
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PepsiCo has announced it will source 100 percent cage-free eggs in the U.S. by 2020, and will expand to source 100 percent cage-free eggs globally by 2025.
Walmart, by 2025.
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Walmart announced its commitment to switch to 100 percent cage-free eggs by 2025.
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Get in touch with HuffPost's animal welfare editor at arin.greenwood@huffingtonpost.com.
