By Alexander W. Strauch, DVM
Poultry Veterinarian
Four Star Veterinary Service, LLC
Minton Veterinary Service Office
Chickasaw, Ohio, USA
The US laying-hen industry’s transition to cage-free has presented many challenges and opportunities for poultry producers over the last decade. For flock supervisors, these changes could be jarring.
Imagine for a moment if a flock supervisor who cared for 100,000 caged layers in 2015 was magically transported to a 100,000-bird multi-tiered aviary in 2025. With no debriefing, their “first” day back on the job would be quite a shock. Much has changed, but the basic tenets of flock management remain for cage-free hens.
Today, cage-free and organic egg production collectively accounts for approximately 36% of all hens housed in the US.1 With this level of production, it is paramount to give special and deliberate consideration to the training goals and competency expectations of today’s cage-free workforce.
Put bluntly, our on-farm workforce needs to increase and improve their skill sets to accommodate this significant population of laying hens.
In a previous Modern Poultry article, I discussed some of the main factors that make cage-free egg production inherently more complicated, including intra-flock dynamics, inherent pressures from the surrounding aviary environment and accurate data collection.
The information presented in this article is neither earth-shattering nor limited to cage-free production. However, I wholeheartedly believe an industry-wide reckoning is needed at this time.
With the competencies described below, I place extra emphasis on middle-management employees, such as flock supervisors, because this particular sector of our workforce has a unique balance of weekly managerial responsibilities and bird contact. Although they may have different titles and levels of authority within an egg enterprise — flock supervisor, field technician and farm manager — their roles are uniformly familiar within the industry.
Competency #1: data management
Depending on the level of responsibility assigned to middle-management employees, a certain industry-standard level of competency in bird husbandry should be expected. The first core competency to discuss is data management.
One of the most important determinants of successful cage-free egg production is how close the management team is to their flock data. Every supervisory-level employee should be able to calculate basic flock health metrics and understand their relationship to performance. The minimum requirements for flock data comprehension include a complete understanding of the current signalment and vitals for each barn on one’s farm.
Signalment
Signalment refers to the flock-identifying information and includes the flock name, population, age, production category, barn type, feeding type and breed. Here are two examples of signalment for pullets and layers:
Pullets
Barn 1 currently houses Flock 102A, a 149,800-head flock of 8-week-old, aviary-style, cage-free, conventional Dekalb Whites.
Layers
Barn 3 currently houses Flock FRO9, a 22,790-head flock of 40-week-old, open-floor, free-range, organic Hyline Browns.
Signalment may sound simple, but it is a mandatory and sometimes overlooked piece of information for poultry teams. Every responsible employee should have this information memorized and readily available for presentation during professional communications because any discussions regarding the flocks depend on the descriptors listed.
An analogy I like to use is this: If a parent has four kids, they should at least know their names, ages, dietary restrictions and hair color without even having to think about it.
Vitals
Vitals encompass 10 core measurements for laying hens and are essential for proper management. These data points must be as current as possible, accurate and readily available for team discussion and analysis.
None of the vitals exist in a vacuum and intimately depend upon each other for high-level flock performance. These 10 core vitals include those listed below:
- Bodyweight — Necessary to sustain performance, weighed weekly
- Uniformity — Indicates flock homogeneity, calculated weekly
- Hen-day production — Indicates current flock health and performance, measured daily
- Current mortality rate (weekly/daily) — Indicates current flock health, calculated as a percentage, analyzed as a daily and/or weekly rate
- Cumulative mortality rate — Indicates flock health to date, calculated as a running percentage
- Feed consumption per 100 birds — Indicates flock health, calculated daily and averaged weekly
- Water consumption per 100 birds — Most important nutrient. Indicates flock health, calculated daily and averaged weekly
- Case weight — Indicates metabolic control, collection of 360 eggs, measured at least weekly
- Eggs/hen housed — Single most important metric for overall flock performance as birds age. Depends on livability and hen-day egg production
- Mislaid-egg percentage — Indicates flock training and environmental conditions, calculated daily and averaged weekly
Going back to the signalment examples, let’s add the vitals:
Pullets
Barn 1 currently houses Flock 102A, a 149,800-head flock of 8-week-old, aviary-style, cage-free, conventionally fed Dekalb Whites. They weigh 1.32 pounds and are 80% uniform with a 0.01% daily mortality rate and 1.2% cumulative mortality rate. They are eating 9 pounds/100 birds and drinking 2.4 gallons/100 birds.
Layer
Barn 3 currently houses Flock FRO9, a 22,790-head flock of 40-week-old, open-floor, free-range, organic Hyline Browns. They weigh 4.4 pounds and are 86% uniform, laying at 93% with a 0.02% daily mortality rate and 2.3% cumulative mortality rate. They are eating 25 pounds/100 birds and drinking 5.5 gallons/100 birds, with 49-pound case weight, 134 eggs/hen housed and 1% mislaid eggs.
The ability of the cage-free team to collect data is valuable only as long as the information can be shared and analyzed among key decision-makers. Communicating flock information occurs in formal and informal settings, such as weekly production meetings and daily conversations. However, truly useful communication contains the full signalment and vitals. Anything less is an incomplete starting point for accurate analysis.
For example, calling the flock veterinarian to explain that Flock 405 lost 40 birds yesterday is not as worthwhile as opening with “Barn 12 is a 90,000 bird, 60-week-old, aviary-housed, conventional, LSL flock that has gone from a 0.2% weekly mortality rate last week to a 0.4% weekly mortality rate this week.” The latter case presentation format is far more useful and is made complete with the addition of the remaining flock vitals.
Competency #2: flock examination
The ability of flock managers to accurately examine the status of the flocks under their care is as much art as it is science. Although nothing beats time spent around birds and on-farm experience, there is a systematic way to assess the behavior and physical status of the birds. At the very least, discernment of normal versus abnormal is the required starting point for good husbandry.
Cage-free flocks exist in three dimensions: front-to-back, side-to-side and bottom-to-top. It is essential to observe bird behavior from each of these dimensions within the barn environment to ensure an accurate assessment of the group as a whole.
Supervisors should be able to communicate whether birds are evenly or unevenly spread throughout the barn. This pattern recognition applies to mortality location, feeding and drinking behavior, egg-laying and general congregation. Evenness of available resources, such as feed, light, air, water and space (FLAWS) is another important aspect of flock examination. Finally, individual bird behavior should be appreciated in terms of activity level, flightiness, pecking, aggression and mobility.
The physical status of birds can be professionally appreciated with four of the five human senses (excluding taste):
Visual
Birds should be examined from “nose to toes”: clean faces; appropriate comb development; feathered necks, backs and tailheads; clear vents; and normal legs. Abnormal signs of bird issues that should be noticed by supervisors include, but are not limited to, oculo-nasal discharge, squinting, facial swelling, shrunken combs, warts, external blood, feather loss, excessive scabbing, prolapses, diarrhea staining, mites around the vent feathers and lumps on the legs and feet.
Audible
Birds should be listened to closely at any opportunity. This is especially useful at night when the flocks are quiet and roosted because slight respiratory challenges can be heard more easily during the calm provided under the cover of darkness. Lively chicks should cheep, and active hens usually “converse” constantly throughout the day. Any “snicking,” coughing, gurgling or wheezing is abnormal and should be communicated immediately up the appropriate chain of command.
Olfactory
Supervisors can and should be able to discern if feed, water and litter generally smell “normal.” After a while, a certain level of autocalibration occurs for each caretaker, ideally to the degree that they can identify if feed is rancid, water is foul-smelling or ammonia levels are elevated.
Touch
Although flock observation can be done passively during a barn walk-through, nothing beats handling as many birds as possible. Using the same “nose to toes” approach, individual birds should be handled to assess if they have any facial swelling or oral ulcers, full crops with feed and water, external wounds, straight and sturdy keel bones, adequate breast muscling, open “hip bones,” excessively warm shanks or feet abscesses. Knowing what is normal versus abnormal is incredibly meaningful for initial issue identification, which will subsequently trigger additional investigation by the flock veterinarian, nutritionist and/or production manager.
Taken together, the competent supervisor should be able to identify deviations from normal flock behavior and appearance within 1 day from the onset of abnormality. This is extremely valuable, as early identification allows for earlier investigation and interventions, which are usually more rewarding. It is even better if a supervisor can spot the flock data deviations that usually precede any clinical-disease manifestation.
Competency #3: necropsy
Post-mortem examination of layer and pullet carcasses is undeniably valuable for egg farms and should be an expected skillset for employees at the supervisory level and above. This is as true for conventional caged layers as it is for birds housed in alternative production systems. However, it is arguably more necessary for our cage-free flocks that are subjected to a higher number of external variables.
Although full gross pathological diagnosis is not expected at this employment level, the ability to select appropriate specimens, execute thorough carcass breakdowns and take relevant, representative photographs for internal dissemination is expected.
Again, a standardized “nose to toes” approach should be used to ensure the operator does not miss any relevant organ systems. It is highly encouraged that supervisory employees spend one-on-one time with the flock veterinarian to learn the technique. Repetition is encouraged, and the educational theory for pupils of “watch, do and teach” can be used until the employee develops a confident rhythm for post-mortem examinations.
The four categories of specimen selection cover normal sacrificial birds, morbid birds, fresh mortality and old mortality. A competent supervisor should be able to discern whether the goal of a necropsy session is for performance surveillance or investigation of morbidity and mortality.
Sacrificial birds
Sacrificial birds should be randomly selected and should be of normal, representative appearance for purposes of performance surveillance. These hens can serve a higher purpose by providing the management team with vital information regarding intestinal condition, parasite burden, musculature, fat padding and lay status.
Morbid birds
Morbid birds should be easily identifiable via flock examination and are particularly valuable during early issue identification.
Fresh mortality
The fresher the mortality, the better. This is because laying hens, whose internal body temperatures are normally around 106˚F (41˚C), can rapidly deteriorate after death from a combination of internal heat, external conditions and flock scavenging. The race against autolysis is especially important when seeking to get a true picture of the intestinal health of the birds, as the gross architecture of these tissues can quickly become obfuscated by decomposition.
Old mortality
These specimens should not be included in necropsy sessions because some meaningful lesions may have been compromised from decay. Ultimately, the presence of a significant number of old carcasses indicates a larger issue with incomplete daily mortality removal.
Once appropriate specimens are identified and collected, the major landmarks that should be examined include those listed below:
- Feather coverage
- Facial sinuses
- Oral cavity
- Trachea
- Crop
- Breastplate
- Heart
- Lungs
- Liver
- Spleen
- Coelom as a whole
- Fat pad
- Internal digestive tract (proventriculus, gizzard, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, ceca)
- Reproductive tract
- Kidneys
- Bursa of Fabricius (for immature birds)
- Thymus (for immature birds)
- Cloaca
- Vent feathers
- Legs
- Feet
Even without the ability or confidence to perform preliminary gross pathological diagnoses, this on-farm step can be an invaluable tool for sharing real-time lesions with the appropriate professionals.
A necropsy is an underutilized opportunity to shorten investigatory response times and engage our coworkers, who, more often than not, want to have a deeper understanding of poultry anatomy and physiology. As a veterinarian, I wholeheartedly welcome this desire and recognize that field education is also an integral part of my job.
Final thoughts
In conclusion, we cannot accomplish the daily production of table eggs in the US without a competent and confident cage-free workforce. Currently, there is a demonstrated need to bolster the skillsets of our cage-free supervisors, and poultry veterinarians should be utilized for this important on-farm training. At the very least, teaching supervisors about flock data management, flock examination and basic field necropsy is paramount to successful cage-free egg farming.
Reference
1. USDA Egg Markets Overview. April 11, 2025. https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_3725.pdf.
Alexander W. Strauch, DVM, is the lead poultry veterinarian for Four Star Veterinary Service’s Ohio-based clinic. He serves multiple commercial poultry farms across the US and consults with international clients. He specifically caters to egg-layer operations and has a special interest in cage-free production. He can be reached at astrauch@4starvets.com and https://4starvets.com/veterinarian/alex-strauch-dvm/.
Editor’s note: The opinions and/or recommendations presented in this article belong to the author and are not necessarily shared by Modern Poultry.
