Does providing welfare enrichments, which stimulate bird activity, affect feed-conversion ratio (FCR) in broiler chickens? Researchers at the University of Oxford collected data from US broiler farms to find out.
At North Carolina State University, researchers are exploring how AI and robotics could help poultry producers tackle labor shortages, improve animal welfare and make better use of production data.
Assessing welfare in poultry is complex and should involve not just behavioral observations but also neurochemical measurements, according to Greg Fraley, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University.
To address the challenges of live-haul turkey handling, Allison Pullin, PhD, and her team at Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University developed a training tool to standardize procedures and best practices.
Deependra Paneru, PhD, University of Georgia, takes a close look at mycotoxins: what they are, how they affect poultry, reducing the risk and more. Paneru also provides a quick field guide to help producers prepare for a mycotoxin challenge.
By Michelle Kromm, DVM, MPH, MAM, DACPV,
Food Forward, LLC,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Poultry welfare has become an increasingly important priority within the industry over recent years, but meaningful progress requires clear and measurable goals. Manoella Alves, Zinpro, discusses what the US Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs and the International Poultry Welfare Alliance are doing to drive this effort.
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.
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.
By Ken Opengart, DVM, PhD, DACPV
3 Birds Consulting
Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Research from the University of Arkansas suggests that giving turkey poults feed cues with green, moisture-rich feed attractants may help them find feed sooner, forage earlier and gain more weight during the first 10 days after placement.
Chickens are highly motivated to peck, forage, and explore their environment. Providing opportunities for birds to express these motivated behaviors, is a key component of animal welfare, and edible enrichments can be an effective way to encourage engagement with the environment.
