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Poultry welfare
Proper animal welfare involves providing the proper housing, management, nutrition, disease prevention and treatment, responsible care, humane handling and, when necessary, humane euthanasia. These factors allow for the most optimal and humane growing environment. The concept of animal welfare includes three elements: the bird’s normal biological functioning, its emotional state and its ability to express its natural behaviors. Improving animal welfare can be accomplished through offerings like poultry feed enrichment, which can reduce stress, thereby increasing performance, productivity and profitability. Animal welfare is currently a major requirement for intensive poultry production. Beak trimming, stocking density, free access to feed, heat stress, and air pollutants became important issues, which are regulated in several countries. Animal welfare is observed by watching how birds naturally behave and even by looking at mortality stemming from aggressive behaviors.
Silvafeed® plant extracts: a performing natural alternative to antibiotics in maximising gut health Implementing new practices that aim at improving animal welfare is no easy task. There are diverse signals from famers and veterinarians that, under the condition of current animal farming, livestock welfare appears endangered, as individual animals and entire flocks or herds show clinical signs of discomfort and...
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Figure 1. Air speeds in fifteen locations across the cross-section of a 40' X 500' broiler house with market-age birds. Keeping market-age birds cool during hot weather is all about...
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Michael Czarick (Extension Engineer – University of Georgia, Department of Poultry Science) will be one of the speakers at the Latin American Poultry Congress that will take place in Lima, Peru, from October 9th to the 11th.
He is considered by the academic community as the principal authority in the design and operation of...
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During the summertime, most broiler producers would not consider a house temperature in the low 80's of particular concern, even with a house full of near-market-age birds. But in truth they should be. Because without sufficient air speed, the use of...
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What is the major reason for low feed consumption and lameness? ...
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Thanks in advance, my question is how to control moisture in poultry farm, shade in Pakistan I've tried many things but unable to control. Can you guide me? I'm very thankful. ...
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Various environmental stressors such as high ambient temperature and relative humidity influence the performance of broilers by reducing feed intake, feed conversion efficiency and hypophyseal-adrenocortical axis that in turn stimulates corticosterone which retarded growth (Dong et al., 2007). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated at cellular level during normal bodily functions; however, high ambient temperature has been shown to increase the free radicals and other ROS production in...
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1. Introduction Newcastle disease is considered the number one disease constraint to poultry production in low and middle-income countries [1]. In these areas, chickens often serve as important protein sources and commodities to be sold or traded. Pathogens are not the only challenge in small-scale poultry production in these resource-limited settings. Heat stress also has a negative impact [2]. Immune response is known to be negatively modulated by heat stress...
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Introduction The effects of thermal stress (TS) on chickens have been widely explored due to their relation to economic losses and animal performance retardation. Modern broiler chickens strains have greater sensitive to high temperature than old strain (1). A high temperature is one of the major stressors linked to economic losses to the poultry industry (2). It causes bad growth performance (3), immune depression (4), and high fatal rate (5). The optimum living temperature of...
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1. Introduction Market broilers face a variety of stresses, including feed and water withdrawal, vehicle vibration, and noise during live hauls from farms to processing plants. Among these, complex thermal environments have been identified as a major factor inducing physiological stress [1–9], with the most stressful stimuli being the extremes of heat and cold, contributing to seasonal-elevated “dead on arrivals” (DOAs). The welfare of the birds may be...
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Introduction Room temperature is a component of microclimate and has a significant effect on the productivity, health of broiler chickens and consequently on the profitability of poultry production. It is generally assumed that rearing temperature should be approximately 32°C on the first day and be gradually decreased to approximately 20°C at the 6 weeks of age (Leenstra and Cahaner, 1991; Zhou and Yamamoto, 1998). Too low or too high ambient temperature is highly...
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Heat stress in broilers can be defined as the result of metabolic, hormonal, and immune system changes suffered by...
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Heat stress is a form of hyperthermia (elevated body temperature) in which, the physiological systems of the body fail to regulate the body temperature within a normal range. Heat stress in animals is considered to be violation of animal welfare and rights. It may not be due to elevated environmental temperature as the only culprit, but it may be due to a combined effect of environmental temperature and relative humidity. The aftermath of heat stroke may lead to severe damages in terms of...
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Introduction Chronic heat stress (HS) is a great concern in all types of poultry production. Feed consumption, growth rate, mortality, and other important traits are adversely affected by severe HS. Reduction of feed intake in order to reduce metabolic heat production (Teeter ., 1985) and lower growth rate as well as a reduction in feed efficiency (Geraert ., 1996). Have been reported in poultry under heat stress condition. Heat stress stimulates the release...
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1. Introduction
Stress, a response to adverse stimuli, is difficult to define and understand because of its nebulous perception. According to Selye [1], “stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demand”, whereas stressor can be defined as “an agent that produces stress at any time”. Therefore, stress represents the reaction of the animal organism (i.e., a...
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Cia Johnson (AVMA) discussed guidance and standards for euthanasia, slaughter and depopulation of animals, during 2019 NIAA Annual Conference: Animal Agriculture - Innovation, Technology and Consumer Engagement in Des Moines, Iowa, USA....
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Darrin Karcher (Purdue University) discussed the minimum stocking density in this system to achieve sufficient production and welfare conditions -including feather coverage-, during an interview at the Multi-State Poultry Feeding and Nutrition Conference and Silvateam's Technical Symposium in Indianapolis, USA....
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Heat stress is a major welfare problem in poultry industry leading to huge economic losses every year, because of heavy mortality and decreased performance. High temperatures, especially when coupled with high humidity, imposes severe stress on broiler birds and lead to reduced performance. In...
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Half of the birds reared worldwide are estimated to suffer from the consequences of heat stress during the summer period. The first visible sign is an increase in the water: feed ratio, however recent research has also shown that excessively hot conditions have an impact on the gut structure and its permeability. Reduced feed consumption and decreased intestinal integrity and function result in the decreased energy intake, animal discomfort and the reduced...
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