

To address the challenges of live-haul turkey handling, Allison Pullin, PhD, and her team at Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University developed a training tool to standardize procedures and best practices.

To address the challenges of live-haul turkey handling, Allison Pullin, PhD, and her team at Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University developed a training tool to standardize procedures and best practices.

The first week after hatch is a critical stage for broiler chicks. A team of Auburn University researchers observed 75 Ross 308 broiler chicks from day 1 to day 7 after hatch and recorded their behavior continuously for 24 hours each day to understand how chick behavior changes with age and time of day.
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Most poultry companies invest significant resources in infectious bronchitis vaccination programs. But according to one of the poultry industry’s leading infectious bronchitis virus researchers, Mark Jackwood, PhD, Ceva Animal Health, one critical question often receives less attention than it should: How do you know the program worked?

A research team led by Sanjay Shah, PhD, North Carolina State University, developed a new Excel-based mass-depopulation calculator to help poultry producers and animal health officials rapidly estimate the resources needed during HPAI outbreaks.

In a Q&A, Charlie Broussard, DVM, a poultry veterinarian with Merck Animal Health, explains how industry thinking has shifted regarding coccidiosis programs and why more producers are maintaining coccidiosis vaccination year-round.

Raised to maximize meat production, commercial turkey toms are bred to grow quickly and gain weight in a short time. This begs the question whether the bird’s skeletal system meets that developmental challenge.

By David L. Wicker, PhD, industry consultant, Gainesville, Georgia and
W.A. Dozier, III, PhD, Department of Poultry Science, Auburn University and Alabama Cooperative Extension System

An innovation taking the broiler/breeder industry by storm is Comfort Nest™, a mechanical egg-laying system from VAL-CO that more than doubles the nest size to accommodate high-yield broiler-strain hens.

Broilers do not spread evenly across their environment. Some may cluster near a wall, equipment line, or other boundary, while other areas appear relatively unoccupied. Shawna Weimer, PhD, University of Arkansas, explores the behavior of wall hugging and what it means to broiler production.

The poultry industry is increasingly focused on extending the productive lifespan of laying hens beyond 100 weeks to enhance welfare, sustainability and profitability. A major challenge in achieving this goal is the age-related decline in eggshell quality. Supplementation with phytase and dacitic tuff breccia could be the answer, according to a study from North Carolina State University.