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Poultry management
Poultry management usually refers to the husbandry practices or production techniques that help to maximize the efficiency of production. Sound management practices are very essential to optimize production. Scientific poultry management aims at maximizing returns with minimum investment. A carefully controlled environment that avoids crowding, chilling, overheating, or frightening is almost universal in poultry farming. Cannibalism, which expresses itself as toe picking, feather picking, and tail picking, is controlled by debeaking at one day of age and by other management practices. The feeding, watering, egg gathering, and cleaning operations are highly mechanized. Birds are usually housed in wire cages with two or three animals per cage, depending on the species and breed, and three or four tiers of cages superposed to save space. Cages for egg-laying birds have been found to increase production, lower mortality, reduce cannibalism, lower feeding requirements, reduce diseases and parasites, improve culling, and reduce both space and labour requirements.
I. INTRODUCTION It 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 assessed by researchers, prevalence reached 89% and 69% at 25 weeks, and 73% and 86% at 40...
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I. INTRODUCTION Australia is highly urbanized, with 80% of people living in the major cities (Australian Government Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, 2015) and, although Australians believe that farmers do a good job of looking after their animals (Cockfield & Botterill, 2012), there are low levels of agricultural knowledge among the general public (Worsley et al., 2015). Egg production has become increasingly prominent in public discussions of farm animal...
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The UGA International Poultry Short Course provides a comprehensive overview of modern poultry production.
It is intended for those individuals with limited knowledge of poultry, as well as those who might have considerable experience in one area of poultry production but would like to have a better...
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by Benjamin Geist
With just over 120 days until APSS 2026, planning for the 37th annual Australian Poultry Science Symposium is progressing smoothly. Next year’s event will return to the University of Sydney Business School – Belinda Hutchinson Building (H70) on the Camperdown Campus, and we’re excited to once again welcome delegates for 2.5 days of presentations, posters, networking, and industry engagement.
The theme for APSS 2026...
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Srinivasa Farms and Hy-Line: Pioneering Growth in India’s Poultry Market
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Footpad dermatitis (FPD) is considered an animal welfare issue. Wet and sticky litter are major causes of FPD (Taira et al., 2014). Our previous study showed that a well selected probiotic strain Bacillus subtilis 29784 can improve broiler performance by modulating intestinal microbiota and intestinal inflammatory status (Ghane et al., 2017; Jacquier et al., 2016). We hypothesize that the previous demonstrated benefits of B. subtilis 29784 on gut health will improve litter quality and may...
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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 backyard poultry keeping and the issue is managed by local governments at a council level who...
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In commercial egg production, production traits such as bodyweight (BW), feed intake and efficiency, and egg quality are targets that are critical to profitability. Assessment of average BW and uniformity are relatively straightforward measurements. Furthermore, it is well known that achieving target BW for the breed standard and minimising BW variation are key to producing greater egg mass and egg quality. It is more difficult to get an understanding of the variation in feed intake, egg...
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Jose J. Bruzual (Senior Poultry Veterinarian, Aviagen) comments on the benefits of this grading method and its relevance to the poultry industry in this Engormix interview. ...
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1. Introduction In conventional poultry farming, the risk of transmission of infectious diseases, increased by, e.g., high stocking density, low genetic variation, suboptimal ventilation, and immunosuppression, represents a serious challenge for birds’ health and welfare [1,2]. Against this background, biosecurity represents one of the most powerful instruments to mitigate the risk of introduction (external biosecurity) and subsequent spread (internal biosecurity) of...
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1. Introduction Welfare assessment in animals has increasingly emphasized the need for objective, non-invasive measures that reliably reflect physiological and psychological states [1–4]. In this context, pupillometry (the measurement of pupil dynamics) has gained traction as a valuable tool, particularly in human psychological and neurological research [5,6]. The pupil’s diameter is known to change in response to a variety of internal and external stimuli, including...
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Changing Feed Industry Imperatives Call For A Closer Look At On-Site Aflatoxin Test Methods
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An observational study conducted on three commercial layer farms showed that environmental enrichment increases number of birds on the range (see Dekoning et al. in this APSS Proceedings). In the same study, we aimed to determine if plumage damage score is different between birds found inside versus outside sheds. The farms were stocked with HyLine Brown flocks (all beak-trimmed); Farm-1 & Farm-3 had one shed each and Farm-2 had two sheds (all 3 farms & four flocks with a fixed...
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Feather pecking is synonymous with economic and major welfare problems in the poultry industry and is positively associated with feather ingestion. In a choice-feeding experiment, laying hens showed a stronger preference for unwashed compared to washed feathers (McKeegan and Savory, 2001). The attraction toward unwashed feathers could be related to the preen oil produced by the uropygial glands located dorsally at the base of the tail. Preen oil covers the feathers during the process of...
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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 alter pecking behaviour (Glatz and Runge, 2017). The objective of the current study was to...
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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 significant economic losses and negative impacts on bird health and welfare (Daş et al.,...
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Dr. Mário Penz (Cargill) discusses the consequences of not managing water properly and the different factors to consider regarding its quality, during this Engormix interview....
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The 37th Annual Australian Poultry Science Symposium will take place from February 9th to 11th, 2026.
Planning is coming along nicely for APSS2026, and we have nine excellent invited speakers who are all very excited to be involved in the symposium next...
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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 gastrointestinal microbiota can be affected by animal behavior and vice versa (Neufeld et al.,...
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Andrew Gomer, Senior Business Development Advisor at Nova-Tech Poultry, discusses the company’s advanced technologies that support sustainable egg production. ...
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1. Introduction Aggressive behavior of roosters toward hens are rare in natural environments, where the two sexes form separate social hierarchies and male dominance is expressed in a passive manner [1–3]. However, it has been observed that males from broiler parental lines exhibit a high frequency of aggression toward females, especially during the display of sexual behavior [4–13]. This pattern of mating-related aggression has also been observed in slow-growing broiler...
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The ancestor of the modern-day chicken, the red jungle fowl, was exposed to different spectra of light in their natural habitat (Prescott et al., 2003). The surrounding environment, vegetation, season, and time of day all affect the color of light exposure to the wild bird (Endler, 1993), which may have lingering behavioral...
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