Egg Production

Continued concern for animal welfare may be alleviated when welfare would be monitored on farms. Monitoring can be characterized as an information system where various stakeholders periodically exchange relevant information. Stakeholders include producers, consumers, retailers, the government, scientists, and others. Valuating animal welfare in the animal-product market chain is regarded as a key challenge to …

An ‘‘Animal Needs Index’’ ANI (German: ‘‘Tiergerechtheitsindex’’ TGI) was developed to be used primarily at farm level as an instrument for assessing and grading livestock housing with respect to the well-being of the animals. Today, several different systems exist. The approach pursued in Austria (ANI 35 L) considers five husbandry conditions: (1) possibility of mobility, …

The development in organic livestock production can be attributed to an increased consumer interest in organic products while, at the same time, increased farmers’ interest in converting to organic production methods—often stimulated by governmental support or subsidies. It is important that organic production systems can fulfil the expectations of each of these stakeholders if organic …

Stress and diseases have the potential to influence the deposition of eggshell pigmentation during egg formation. Therefore, defining the shell color of eggs on a daily basis could be a representative method for monitoring stress or health status of a flock and maintaining good performance. A novel way of measuring eggshell color based on visible-near …

Magnocellular neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus containing arginine vasotocin (AVT) project to the posterior pituitary and release the peptide peripherally to target tissues. Parvocellular neurons contain either corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), AVT, or both neuropeptides and project to the median eminence. Corticotropin-releasing hormone and AVT are then transported to the anterior pituitary where they bind …

The development of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for the Land Transport of Livestock (known as Land Transport Standards and Guidelines) is the first in a series of projects to develop consistent animal welfare standards and guidelines in Australia. The project represents an evolution in the way in which animal welfare policy is …

European legislation demands that slaughter animals, including poultry, be rendered immediately unconscious and insensible until death occurs through blood loss at slaughter. This study addressed requirements for stunner settings (i.e., voltage, wave oscillation frequency) and response parameters (i.e., applied current, behavior) affecting effective water bath stunning. An inventory of current electrical stunning practice was performed …

Besides the challenges of mortality and litter disposal, the poultry industry must find economical means of disposing of laying hens that have outlived their productive lives. Because spent hens have low market value and disposing of them by composting and burial is often infeasible, finding alternative disposal methods that are environmentally secure is prudent. The …

This study aimed at studying alternative methods to induce molting and to compare them with the conventional forced-molting method (fasting). In the experiment, 420 70-week-old layers were used. The total experimental period was 140 days. Molting was induced during the first 28 days, when birds were submitted to the experimental treatments, and bird performance and …

The improvement in production technology was the major factor that lead Brazil to become the third largest poultry producer. The improvement was world´s based on the careful control of several aspects, including which nutrition and management (environment, health and rearing systems). Nowadays, the search for good welfare conditions is a global tendency in animal production. …