A. D. Fisher

Recent research indicates that smothering accounts for up to 16% of mortality in adult laying hens in Australian commercial free-range egg farms (Hemsworth et al., 2022). In addition, UK data indicates that piling (a precursor to smothering where hens press tightly together into dense packs) has implications not only for the risk of mortality due to smothering, but also may negatively impact egg p ...

Smothering is a form of mortality which results from groups of hens pressing together in such a way that some hens are killed presumably due to suffocation. A recent Australian epidemiological study reported that smothering accounted for 11% of mortality across 3 separate organisations and in two separate climate zones in Australia (Hemsworth et al., 2022). Previous surveys of producers in the UK ...