Supermarket giant Morrisons will sell only free range eggs from today.
The company which has 492 stores sells over 10m eggs a week and can expect a scramble for them on pancake day next week.
The move to stop the sale of caged eggs comes five years ahead of the retailer's original target.
They have doubled the number of farmers they work with and their supply will cone from hens that have had been outdoors at least eight hours a day.
Morrisons originally committed to move away from caged eggs by 2025 after listening to a consumer campaign spearheaded by teenager Lucy Gavaghan in 2016 .
The commitment will mean all Morrisons eggs will come from hens that have outdoor access for at least eight hours each day, as well as nest boxes with wide perches and spaces for scratching and dust bathing.
Morrisons is also continuing to work on ensuring that 100% of eggs used as ingredients in products are from free range eggs by 2025.
The chain is also dropping the price of a pack of six free range eggs from 80p to 75p to make them even more affordable.
Robert Hofmann, Morrisons Egg Buyer, said: “Improving animal welfare is very important to customers and it’s very important to us. We source our eggs directly from farms and have worked hard to help them all move to free range."
None of the UK’s six biggest retailers have previously gone free range only.
“From today, all our eggs will come from free-range hens that are able to roam freely outdoors – typically during daylight hours - and then return to nest boxes in the evening.”
Dr Tracey Jones, Director of Food Business at Compassion in World Farming, says: “It’s great to see Morrisons achieving their commitment to be 100% free range on shell eggs ahead of their 2022 target.
"Momentum on ending the use of cages for laying hens is growing and Morrisons are leading the way. Importantly, they also have a 2025 cage-free commitment on the eggs that go into processed and ingredient foods.”
In 2018 Morrisons introduced a popular Pick Your Own Eggs service enabling customers to choose and pack their own free-range eggs in recycled boxes – choosing from one single egg to a tray of 30.
