Mini Singh

I. INTRODUCTIONIt has been shown that FP occurs in all housing systems, from conventional cages, to barn and free range systems (Green et al., 2000). However, there is a lack of data available on the true prevalence of FP in commercial free-range layer farms in Australia. In a survey in the UK, 65% of flocks showed FP during lay as reported by free-range farmers but, when the same flocks were asse ...

There is an increasing trend of raising backyard poultry in urban and suburban settings across Australia, with Australian Egg Corporation Ltd. reporting backyard chicken coops accounting for almost 12 per cent of the nation's total egg production and 393 million eggs produced in metropolitan and regional gardens. However, there is no national or state legislation/policy in place currently for ...

I. INTRODUCTIONSupplementation of amino acids to reduce feather pecking behaviour and improve plumage condition has been previously studied and found to be successful (Savory, 1998, van Hierden et al., 2004). Feather eating behaviour performed by feather pecking birds suggests that feathers (predominately composed of keratin protein) may be consumed as an alternative source of amino acids, if dige ...

IntroductionRecent legislation in Australia, that came into effect from March 2017, states that eggs labelled ‘free-range’ need to be laid by hens with meaningful and regular access to the outdoors and that there would be a ceiling on outdoor stocking density of 10000 hens/hectare [1]. However, earlier model Code of Practice [2] and standards from animal welfare bodies [3, 4], as well ...

Free range poultry egg and meat production is a rapidly growing sector in Australia. Establishing free range production enterprises that meet retailer and consumer demands remains a challenge for the poultry industry. Furthermore, Australia is characterised by a wide array of climatic and topographic regions, some of which may expose free range birds to conditions that may affe ...