UGA scientist: Day-length affects behavior, welfare of broilers
Light and dark cycles within a 24-hour period play a crucial role in maintaining physiological and behavioral rhythms in animals.
Light and dark cycles within a 24-hour period play a crucial role in maintaining physiological and behavioral rhythms in animals.
By Ken Opengart, DVM, PhD, DACPV
3 Birds Consulting
Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Drinker management is a key aspect of poultry welfare, as water is a crucial resource involved in thermal regulation, nutrient absorption, digestion, waste elimination and overall homeostatic balance in birds.
Animal welfare audits are performed to evaluate whether a hatchery, farm, or processing plant is meeting the specific animal welfare standards of a certification program.
Prolonged exposure to heat stress can lead to respiratory injury in broiler chickens, according to a recent study in China.
Without other stressors to skew results, altering stocking density (SD) within common ranges does not affect the well-being of layer chicks being transported from hatcheries to pullet-rearing operations.
Bird welfare is improved in cage-free layer systems compared to cage systems, but indoor air quality suffers in a cage-free environment due to higher bird activity.
Continuous lighting is commonplace in commercial broiler houses, but is that what’s best for the birds?
The ability to process birds on farms and eliminate live transport offers some compelling benefits to the poultry industry whose customers are increasingly disconnected from animal agriculture.
Damaging behaviors in poultry include feather pecking, vent pecking, and toe pecking. While feather and vent pecking are well-known welfare problems in poultry that have received significant attention from researchers and farmers, toe pecking remains relatively unknown.
The first few days of life are some of the most important in chicks’ lives. During this time, chicks start developing and set themselves up for the rest of their lifetime. The husbandry decisions made at this point can impact the birds’ growth, development, health and welfare.
Various claims and labels on the products provide consumers with information about how the animals were raised and treated during production. However, the information on animal products can sometimes be confusing.
Copyright ©Feeks Media LLC, 2025 | All rights reserved
info@modernpoultry.media
privacy policy | site map
