Managing heat stress in commercial poultry operations: principles and practical strategies
By Zac Williams, PhD
Extension specialist – Poultry Husbandry and Management
University of Arkansas
By Zac Williams, PhD
Extension specialist – Poultry Husbandry and Management
University of Arkansas
Jonathan W. Moon, PhD, Mississippi State University, evaluated a combined evaporative cooling and sprinkler system relative to a conventional EC system in two commercial-sized broiler houses. How did the combined system affect broiler performance?
In the United States, the majority of laying hens are housed in conventional cages. However, there has been a shift towards cage-free systems. Cage-free systems can benefit laying hen welfare. Birds have opportunities to perform a full range of species-specific behaviors, including foraging, dustbathing, perching, and walking, which are restricted in conventional cages.
Poultry researchers use ‘affective valence’ — a positive or negative emotional response — as a measure of animal welfare. Tom Smulders, PhD, an evolutionary neurobiology researcher from Newcastle University, has studied whether hippocampal neurogenesis can be a marker of affective valence in poultry.
Research on broilers is often applied to commercial turkeys, as is the case with many studies on photoperiod lengths. At the 2025 Poultry Science Association annual meeting, Karen Schwean-Lardner, PhD, University of Saskatchewan, presented results of her study that were specific to turkeys.
Optimizing poultry health and performance requires navigating a wide range of variables, including chick quality, nutrition, biosecurity and management of the poultry house environment. And lighting in the houses plays an important role, according to Brian Fairchild, PhD, professor and extension poultry specialist at the University of Georgia.
A “Viewpoints” article by Michael Czarick. Extension Engineer – Poultry, University of Georgia, and Connie Mou, PhD, Technical Services Manager, Poultry Guard
A “Rising Stars” article
by Xiaowen Ma, MS
Department of Animal Science
Michigan State University
Salmonella exposure to consumers from eggs has been a decades-long concern. Richard Gast, poultry research microbiologist at USDA’s US National Poultry Research Center in Athens, Georgia, has developed two research projects to gain more perspective on Salmonella Enteritidis in cage-free layer housing.
Good composting procedures eliminate odors and reduce the number of flies, rodents, predators and scavengers attracted to the bins. Additionally, when done properly, composting is a cost-effective method of biosecurity.
Pathogenic Enterococcus cecorum is proving to be a growing problem on broiler farms, and infection extends beyond bird-to-bird contact to the farm environment, according to a study led by Martine Boulianne, DMV, PhD, DACPV, at the University of Montreal.
A “Viewpoints” article
by Michael Czarick
Extension Engineer – Poultry
University of Georgia
Department of Poultry Science
