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Poultry behavior
Knowledge of the behaviour of the stock and the application of that knowledge in the care of the stock plays an important part in the maximisation of production efficiency of a poultry production enterprise. In addition, the management of the domestic fowl has received considerable attention over recent years from the community, particularly animal liberation groups, because of the way that commercial poultry management systems have intensified. As a consequence, the study of poultry behaviour is important to the unit manager, not only to ensure that the welfare of the birds and production efficiency are maintained but also to minimise the influence of what is often uninformed debate. Behaviour is the way that animals respond to the different stimuli they encounter in their environment. The stimuli may be from other birds, their environment, people or any other thing or occurrence. Aggression and feather pecking or plucking are the two most common behavioral problems in chickens.
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Dr. Leonie Jacobs (Virginia Tech / Poultry Extension Collaborative) offers insights on poultry welfare and its potential for the future of production systems -and the industry as a whole-, during this Engormix interview....
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Introduction The United States (US) has three main broiler chicken production systems which mandate that birds have outdoor access. The first is certified organic production overseen by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which requires that birds have access to the outdoors, with shade, shelter, exercise areas, fresh air, direct sunlight, and protection from predators year-round [1]. The second is free-range poultry production, overseen by the USDA, where...
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May 14, 2024
Canada - Manitoba - Winnipeg
Commercial egg laying operations can benefit from more effective and economical ways to depopulate flocks at the end-of-lay while improving worker performance and maintaining or improving animal welfare. Recent on-farm research in Switzerland applied portable blue light units and specialized crate carts, seeking to improve depopulation during catching, carrying, and crating without changes to flock housing or other infrastructure. However, neither the blue light nor the cart reduced layer...
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Prafulla Regmi (University of Georgia) shares his research on the interaction and movement of birds in a cage-free aviary system and explains how this technology could be implemented, in this Engormix interview during IPPE 2024 in Atlanta, USA....
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I. INTRODUCTION Determination of range usage by hens can be difficult for researchers and free-range egg farmers, particularly usage on the outer sections of the range (i.e., > 50 m from the hen shed). Live counts only give a snapshot of numbers of hens on the range at a defined time point and do not show the frequency of range usage. Camera traps, also referred to as trail cameras and wildlife cameras, are relatively cheap and useful tools that could produce valuable information...
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I. INTRODUCTION The welfare of all farmed livestock is of importance to the consuming public. Australian consumers especially have some concerns about welfare within more intensive animal production systems, such as commercial egg farms (Rachel et al., 2017). Most consider cage-free and free-range production systems to be more `natural` and associate this with `good` animal welfare (Buddle et al., 2021). Commercial egg farms experiencing smothering and mortality events as a result of...
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Quantification of range use in commercial meat chicken flocks is desirable so that farmers can objectively assess meaningful range access, including number of chickens using the range and how far chickens roam from the shed. Currently there is no cost-effective technology for quantifying range use in commercial conditions, and farm staff perform assessments based on visual inspection. A proof-of-concept machine vision system was developed for automated range use assessment, using simple and...
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I. Introduction Early life experiences play an important role in the behavioural development of laying hens (Janczak and Riber 2015; Nicol 2015). Environmental differences in rearing systems have been shown to have an impact on behavioural problems such as feather pecking and cannibalism during adulthood (de Haas et al. 2014; Riber and Guzman 2017). In addition, fearfulness early in life has been shown to correspond to increased stress response in adulthood (de Haas et al. 2012). A...
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I. Introduction In Australia, 95% of the population are concerned about animal welfare with 91% desiring better ways to monitor and improve animal welfare (National pest & disease outbreaks, 2018). There is increased understanding and focus on animals’ sentience and the need to ensure farm animals have ‘lives worth living’. This applies to the Australian egg industry where research shows the community believes that hens are entitled to positive and rewarding...
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More recently, probiotics have attracted considerable attention in subsiding oxidative damage caused by heat stress in poultry. Numerous researchers have reported the potential benefits of probiotics in improving gut morphology and integrity in heat-stressed birds. Bacillus is of industrial importance several reasons, including its excellent safety record, rapid growth rate resulting in short fermentation cycles, and ability to secrete proteins into the extracellular medium....
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In cage-free housing, multi-tiered aviary structures are often used (pictured above), where key resources (i.e., feed, water, nests, perches) are available on elevated platforms called tiers, and litter substrate is available on the ground floor for dustbathing and foraging. Hens move vertically and horizontally...
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‘Smothering’ in poultry occurs when birds mass together, often on top of each other, resulting in death from suffocation (Bright and Johnson, 2011). The small number of reports documenting the incidence of smothering indicate that it accounts for a substantial proportion of overall mortality in free range layer flocks (Barrett et al., 2014; Bright and Johnson, 2011). In 2019 Australian Eggs Limited funded the Animal Welfare Science Centre and the Veterinary Epidemiology...
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Introduction Every animal production system experiences stress because of the numerous stressors on the farms. Stress is a biologically adaptive response to re-establish homeostasis (1). Heat stress is a variant of environmental stress caused by an increase in environmental temperature (and humidity) beyond the thermotolerance of an animal. Poultry birds possess a narrow range of thermoregulatory thresholds and are sensitive to environmental temperatures, which can pose as a...
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Heat stress is a huge problem in farm animals, as their welfare and performance can be negatively affected by extreme environmental conditions. When animals are exposed to very high or low temperatures outside their comfort range, they might experience heat stress. This can bring about various unfavorable consequences, such as decreased food intake, reduced zootechnical performance, alterations in the immune system, and increased susceptibility to diseases. Mechanisms through which...
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Stocking density is a critical factor to consider for optimum welfare of commercial broilers Stocking density is typically defined in terms of the number of birds per unit area or the amount of space provided on per bird basis. In commercial production, stocking density of a broiler...
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Spondylolisthesis, often called ‘kinky back’, is a deformity that affects broiler chickens’ spines. The deformity occurs in the fifth and/or sixth vertebrae (T6) and leads to spinal cord compression making it hard for birds to walk, and in severe cases it can cause...
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1. Introduction Animal welfare is a fundamental component of sustainability, agricultural development and food security. In order for a livestock system to be sustainable, it should be sustainable economically, environmentally and ecologically, and at the same time, it should be accepted ethically and socially [1–3]. Today, a product of animal origin is not considered sustainable unless the social demand for welfare of the production animals is satisfied [1]. Animal...
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1. Introduction In recent years, the poultry sector has been developing rapidly worldwide to meet the growing consumer demand for poultry meat and eggs. Chicken meat is low in saturated fat and rich in protein, vitamins and minerals [1]. Similarly, a hen’s egg is the most affordable source of animal protein and constitutes a complete and highly nutritious food with significant health benefits for consumers [2]. It is estimated that animal-based food demand will grow by...
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1. Introduction In light of the challenges posed by climate change, economic crisis, overpopulation, and high global demand for protein, poultry production emerges as a more environmentally friendly option compared to meat from livestock. It has a lower impact on greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrates higher conversion rates [1]. Additionally, poultry production requires fewer resources and has a faster production cycle, making it an appealing protein source [2]. However, the...
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Visual assessments for health and welfare of broiler flocks are regularly performed by farm staff walking through the shed. However, common welfare indicators like footpad dermatitis and hockburn require manual handling of the flock and an automated measurement is desirable. There is potential for automated camera monitoring to complement human inspections for detection of health and welfare conditions and perform additional flock monitoring tasks. A proof-of-concept machine vision system...
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