Feed is a vital part of the poultry industry, representing around 60-70% of the total costs. However, even the best feed formulation cannot deliver results if the birds cannot access it readily. Anusha Gautam and Bethany Baker-Cook, PhD, Auburn University, discuss the right type of feeders to select for each of the production phases, appropriate feeder spacing, proper feeder height, and the overall feeder arrangement.
Emily Kimminau, PhD, has firmly become one of the industry’s go-to specialists in coccidiosis — a disease that remains one of the most prevalent and costly challenges in global poultry production. In this Q&A, she talks about disease trends, gut health strategies and what the future holds for data-driven poultry production.
A North Carolina State University study, led by graduate student Athena He-DeMontaron, compared the growth performance and mortalities of fast- and slow-growing strains of broilers reared in silvopastures, which provide a natural habitat with trees, shrubbery and vegetation and indoor facilities. How did these systems impact the different bird strains?
By Ken Opengart, DVM, PhD, DACPV
3 Birds Consulting
Signal Mountain, Tennessee
A new in ovo sexing technique with a modified genetic trait to hatch only female chicks may someday help eliminate the culling of day-old male chicks. According to developer and embryologist Yuval Cinnamon, PhD, the genetically based solution offers many benefits over the other technologies currently on the market.
Beak trimming is common in the management of laying hens, involving the removal of a portion of a bird’s beak to minimize harmful behaviors. While beak trimming helps reduce injuries among birds, the technique has also raised animal welfare concerns. Thus, farmers and researchers are continuing to explore ways to manage hens without the need to trim their beaks.
Providing the proper stocking density to maximize broiler productivity, welfare and profitability is a balancing act. Because the birds grow dramatically in just a few weeks, space and environmental demands continuously evolve.
While some mortality is expected in all layer flocks, regardless of the housing type or breed, the rate and causes can vary depending on the production system. Cage-free systems may not inherently have higher mortality than cages and experience in managing birds in cage-free systems plays a big role in maintaining low mortality.
Poultry farmers face major challenges finding and disposing of mortalities on the farm, but a commercial manufacturer has created a mobile robotic system equipped with multiple cameras that traverses the ceiling to identify mortalities in the barn. Tanner Thornton, University of Tennessee, described a test of the system at the 2025 IPPE.
Culling day-old male chicks from egg-laying hens is an on-going dilemma for the global poultry industry, resulting in the culling of 7 billion male chicks annually. At the 2025 International Poultry Scientific Forum, Yuval Cinnamon, PhD, outlined the work his research team has done on the Golda hen and optogenetics — a blue-light treatment — to halt the development of male chicks and thereby the need for culling.
As poultry companies weigh cost and efficiency with higher animal welfare standards, research comparing conventional and slow-growing broiler breeds showed that the slow-growing chickens displayed behaviors more closely associated with positive welfare.
The microbiota found in the guts of chickens is responsible for more than the breakdown of food products. It also impacts immune response, the enteric nervous system and cell function. An imbalance can affect disease resistance, and heighten stress and fear responses.
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