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.
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.
