Rearing Laying Hens. A. M. Janczak (The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science)

There is this pilot program about allowing poultry rearing in urban condition and civilian right. I am wondering the welfare of such egg laying bird and consequences of pampering or unbalanced ration to them.

As long as the birds held in urban areas are cared for properly I do not see any problems with this from a welfare perspective. This being said, small populations of laying hens housed outdoors are an important source of pathogens and pose a risk for farmed birds. Otherwise we recently published a rather unique article indicating that rearing in aviaries compared to rearing in traditional cages improves spatial cognition in laying hens. The moral of the story is if you are going to use aviaries, rear birds in aviaries, otherwise you are asking for trouble. The article can be downloaded at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fvets.2015.00003/abstract