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.
Mobility and leg problems are common in modern-day broilers, which are bred for high breast-muscle yield. Extra activity can help the birds support the extra bodyweight and prevent skeletal disorders. Could colored lighting encourage broilers to be more active and less prone to leg problems?
By Bruce Stewart-Brown, DVM, DACPV
Chief Science Officer
Perdue Farms
By Marcelo Lang, DVM
Farsight Consulting & Marketing Services, LLC
Broiler activities like locomotion and movement can be quantified using the broiler activity index (BAI), which has been associated with broiler leg health, productivity and physical conditions. However, current calculation procedures are not user-friendly, requiring extensive training. A new user-friendly web-based AI system could be the answer.
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