Article published the October 14, 2025
Gastrointestinal (GI) passage rate of feed influences nutrient digestibility and absorption, as it dictates the amount of time the digesta are exposed to digestive enzymes, the intestinal villi and microbial fermentation (Vergara et al. 1989; Svihus 2010). The titanium dioxide (TO2) marker technique is currently widely practiced for evaluation of GI passage rate. However, this method requires euth ...
Article published the October 14, 2025
The composition of gastrointestinal microbiota has been demonstrated to affect behaviour and vice versa (Neufeld et al., 2011; Berthoud, 2008). In free-range laying hens, the individual preference to range can lead to characteristic sub-populations of the flock (Hinch & Lee, 2011). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of ranging behaviour on caecal microbiota in laying hens. ...
Article published the September 26, 2025
In recent years, in response to consumer concerns regarding welfare of birds, there has been a move from caged to free-range production systems. This change has resulted in increased exposure of hens to pathogens, including parasites, which can compromise the welfare of the animal (Wongrak et al., 2015). Amongst helminths, Ascaridia galli is the most abundant nematode in poultry, and can cause sig ...
Article published the September 26, 2025
Beak trimming can have serious consequences on hen welfare, health and production. However, compared to hot blade trimming, the infra-red technique has resulted in more uniform beak length and symmetry (Dennis et al., 2009). Pecking stones (Analysed Values: 20.50% calcium, 4.30% phosphorus, 5.0% sodium and 2.50% magnesium) have been used in Europe and are reported to blunt hens’ beaks and al ...
Article published the August 28, 2025
Laying hens need to maintain their health status, including their gastrointestinal health until at least 72 weeks of age. Gut microbiota composition is extremely important to gastrointestinal and overall health. Furthermore, the gut-brain axis enables interactions between the enteric microbiota, the enteric nervous system and the central nervous system (Dinan & Cryan, 2017). The composition of ...
Article published the July 14, 2025
A recent study suggests that artificial Ascardia galli infection has no effect on performance and egg quality of free-range laying hens from the point of lay until 40 weeks of age (Sharma et al., 2017). However, the lower hepatic lipid reserve of infected hens observed in the same study indicated the potential for A. galli to affect production at a later stage. In this study, serum and yolk antibo ...
Article published the December 4, 2024
Flock uniformity is crucial to increase the performance and profitability of commercial egg production (Corzo et.al, 2004). Obtaining flock uniformity in a free-range system may be challenging due to the variation in feeding and ranging behaviour of individual birds.The current study investigated the effect of body weight on initial range utilization and flock uniformity in two free-range laying f ...
Article published the July 12, 2024
The Australian Egg Industry has identified opportunities to optimise production performance, health, flock consistency and egg quality through best practice. Using a cross-sectional survey design for 3 stakeholder groups (farm staff, managers, and consultants), we assessed current knowledge, attitudes, practices, barriers and enablers of adoption of best practices in poultry welfare, health, biose ...
Article published the June 19, 2024
Early warning systems and decision-making tools have the potential to forecast and simulate egg production losses, allowing producers to implement corrective actions pre-emptively. The aim of this study was to create an egg loss forecasting model for free-range egg producers. Commercial farm records comprising of 281 Australian free-range flocks dating from January 2010 until November 2021 were us ...
Article published the December 20, 2023
1-Monoglycerides of short and medium chain fatty acids (monobutyrin, monocaprin and monocaprylin) have shown positive effects on cell metabolism, intestinal integrity and immune system (Calder 2008). However, little is known about their effect on laying hen health, performance and egg quality. Therefore, this study was designed to add further insight into the applied benefits as well as optimal in ...