Keeping Garden Chickens in North Carolina - 2
A useful guide to keeping chickens for the hobby farmer from North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension. This second part covers feeding and housing.

Welfare of Organic Poultry
Some aspects of organic farming increase welfare of poultry, according to Dr E. Zeltner and V. Maurer of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Switzerland. In their paper at the European Symposium on Poultry Welfare in Italy last year,...

Chicken House Attics Can be Tapped to Warm Broilers
Reducing the cost of keeping broiler chickens warm could result from research by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and university cooperators.

Study Looks at Group Size Effects in Furnished Cages for Laying Hens
The advantages of the large group size (60 hens per cage) included a greater proportion of eggs laid in the nest and more perching behaviour, and there were no effects on laying rate, feed intake or dust bathing behaviour, according to M. Guinebretiere...

Furnished Cages Offered Best Hen Welfare in UK Trial
The welfare of hens in the system with furnished (enriched) cages was better than that of hens in other systems, concluded Professor Nicol of the University of Bristol in her paper to the European Symposium on Poultry Welfare last year.

Foot Problems Found in 40 Per Cent of Hens in Non-Cage Systems
In their presentation at the 8th European Symposium on Poultry Welfare, K. Niebuhr and collegues from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, reported finding foot pad dermatitis in an average of 40 per cent of hens housed on free-range...

Laying Patterns Studied in Alternative Management Systems
The laying pattern of individual hens can now be recorded in alternative management systems, according to Dr Wiebke Icken, a geneticist with Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH. He explains how and why in the latest issue of the Company's Poultry News.

EU Egg Production Beyond the 2012 Cage Ban
Some EU countries will fail to meet the 2012 cage ban, writes Terry Evans for ThePoultrySite.

Impacts of the Future EU Layer Cage Ban
The EU cage ban, due to come into force in 2012, will cut laying hen numbers and increase egg deficits in the European Union, writes Terry Evans for ThePoultrySite.

Effectiveness of Trees against Poultry House Emissions
New legislation and growing populations in rural areas are driving the need to reduce environmental 'nuisances' like odours, dust and ammonia associated with raising birds through the greater use of vegetative buffers, says the Poultry Science Associ...

Vencomatic: Much More Than Steel and Plastic
Koen Boot, General Manager of Vencomatic, explains the keys to success as a leading supplier to today's poultry industry to ThePoultrySite editor, Jackie Linden.

Rearing Layers for a Modern Production Environment
Editor of ThePoultrySite, Jackie Linden, visited one farmer in the Netherlands who is helping to prepare pullets for a healthy and productive life in multiple-level aviaries.

Layers Get Special Treatment at 'Heavenly' Farm
Attention to detail is the key to success at Himmelsfarm in the Netherlands, writes Jackie Linden, editor of ThePoultrySite, after a recent visit.

Automation of Hatching Egg Collection is Important to Broiler Breeder
Maximising hatchability and minimising floor eggs are the two most important criteria when equipping a new broiler breeder house, farmer Anton Janssen told ThePoultrySite editor, Jackie Linden when she visited his farm recently.

Implications of Changing Conditions on Welfare Explored
Developments in the industry sometimes move ahead before the implications on bird welfare have been fully explored. Editor of ThePoultrySite, Jackie Linden, summarises two papers presented at this year's annual meeting of the UK Branch of the World's...