The welfare of laying hens is one of the old topics which features regularly in discussions on European animal welfare regulations. The texts adopted are a compromise between scientific arguments based on biological data, and economical and geopolitical factors. Laying hens are a textbook example, as none of the systems recommended by current national and …
The main advantages of battery cages for laying hens over alternative husbandry systems are (1) increased hygiene resulting in a much lower incidence of diseases in which the infectious agent is spread through the droppings, (2) small group size resulting in a low incidence of social friction, (3) ease of management, (4) absence of litter …
Many of the conditions in which poultry live and the procedures to which they are subjected compromise their welfare. This article describes these welfare problems in the hope that they may serve as warnings to the rest of animal agriculture, which then might take steps to avoid the same pitfalls. The article discusses poultry welfare …
Approximately 40 million layer hens are slaughtered in Britain every year. The majority come from battery cage units and are culled towards the end of their laying period when they are usually between 72 and 76 weeks old. Meat from these birds is one of the cheapest sources of edible animal protein, but suffers from …
Killing poultry by means of whole house gassing with carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important tool in disease control. The behaviour of ducks, broilers, laying hens and turkeys was observed to assess differences in susceptibility between species and to assess animal welfare implications following exposure to CO2 treatment. All birds were individually exposed to CO2 …
Like many industries today, the poultry industry faces the challenge of producing high quality products in a manner which meets …
The land transport of animals can have 3 types of influence on their welfare. First, the handling, loading, and novelty of the transport environment and experience can induce a psychological stress response in animals. Second, the withdrawal of feed and water and the need to stand and maintain balance for transport periods can cause a …
Commencing in 2007, a collaborative project to develop the ’’National Animal Welfare Standards for the Livestock Transport Industry’’ (the Standards) was completed and the documentation was integrated with the existing industry quality assurance (QA) program, TruckCare. The project was the fifth in a series of 6 projects commencing from 1998, to develop industry-wide animal welfare …
Animals may encounter a variety of difficulties during their lives and they have behavioural and physiological methods for trying to cope with these. They may cope easily, or may fail to cope, or may cope only with difficulty. The welfare of an animal is its state as regards its attempts to cope with its environment …
The objective of this paper was to describe a method that enables a comparison of egg production systems for their contribution to sustainable development of egg production, using data from the Netherlands for demonstration purposes. One conventional system, the battery cage system, and two animal-friendly systems, the deep-litter and the aviary systems, illustrate this method. …
Since the advent of the animal welfare movement in the early sixties, a considerable amount of research has been generated in an attempt to address questions surrounding cage housing. beak trimming, and induced molting practises for poultry. Although researchers have had difficulty in clearly defining and accurately measuring welfare from a scientific perspective, some interesting …
Chickens, as well as other animals, have the ability to change their behavior (behavioral plasticity) and physiology (physiological plasticity) based on the costs and benefits to fit their environment (adaptation). Through natural selection, the population preserves and accumulates traits that are beneficial and rejects those that are detrimental in their prevailing environments. The surviving populations are …
In seeking to address problems in farm animal welfare one must neither call for a utopian state of rural harmony nor accept the inevitability of abuses associated with current practice. Progress in improving farm animal welfare can be made on farm by farmers but can only be sustained if supported by the rest of the …
1. In this study, we compared a conventional broiler production system keeping fast growing broilers with an organic broiler production system keeping slow growing broilers in the Netherlands, both managed by one person working a full time year (Full Time Equivalent, FTE). This comparison was based on a quantification of economic, ecological and social indicators. …
Farm animal welfare is a major issue in Europe, which resulted in regulations and development of research dedicated to animal welfare, especially on standard poultry production, which is often considered as resulting in very poor welfare. The effect of selection is also often questioned. Indeed, capacities of adaptation have been very little considered during the …
The aim of this review was to compare welfare, health, and hygienic status of laying hens housed in furnished cages and in alternative systems. In alternative systems (floor housing and aviaries), birds have more freedom of movement and a more complex environment than in furnished cages. However, housing birds in much larger flocks in alternative …
There are a number of nonhuman animal welfare monitoring schemes for animals on the farm in Australia and in other countries. Although the majority of such schemes are voluntary rather than legislated, some are nevertheless enforced through a number of customer requirements that industries must meet to gain access to markets. Animal welfare monitoring schemes …