Optient lighting, developed by ONCE® by Signify® and available through VAL-CO, is a lighting system built entirely around how a chicken sees the world. It uses poultry-specific LED lights to accommodate chickens’ heightened photosensitivity.
Drawing on more than 70,000 hatchery vaccination audits conducted through Ceva Animal Health’s C.H.I.C.K Program, Alba Pfaff, MS, the company’s senior technical marketing manager, discusses what helps hatcheries maintain high vaccination standards, the details that matter most and how better use of data could support even greater consistency.
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.
Today’s cage-free laying systems provide extra vertical space for birds to be physically active, which can lead to variability in feed intake and body composition. If feed was restricted, would chickens change their activity levels, or would a hypothalamic response be triggered to increase feed intake?
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.
Can laser enrichment improve broiler health and marketability? Kayla Elmore, a graduate student at Iowa State University, conducted a study to investigate this question, following up on two previous studies that reported increased activity among broilers exposed to lasers.
By Zac Williams, PhD
Extension specialist – Poultry Husbandry and Management
University of Arkansas
Researchers at North Carolina State University evaluated the effects of housing systems and genetic strains on broiler mobility in slow-growing strains vs fast-growing strains in both indoor and outdoor environments.
Consumer interest in poultry welfare has led to the expansion of unconventional poultry-rearing systems, such as silvopasture. Justin Lowery, MS, and a team of researchers from North Carolina State University conducted a broiler research trial comparing the impact of conventional and silvopasture production systems on the cecal microbiota of slow- and fast-growing broilers.
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.
