The average mortality for end of lay hens dead on arrival (DOA) was 0.27 per cent (median 0.15 per cent) in a survey of 13.3 million hens transported during 2009. A statistical model of the data indicated main risk factors for DOA to be slaughter plant, distance travelled and external air temperature, with longer journeys …
Appropriate emergency disaster preparedness is a key priority for agricultural agencies to allow effective response to serious avian disease outbreaks. There is a need to develop rapid, humane, and safe depopulation techniques for poultry that are widely applicable across a range of farm settings. Whole barn depopulation with carbon dioxide (CO2) has been investigated as …
1. Poultry on farms are sometimes required to be killed in an emergency, such as during a disease epidemic, yet none of the available methods are ideal. Whole-house carbon dioxide (CO2) administration has practical advantages, but gives rise to welfare concerns. 2. The study measured the body temperature, respiration, cardiac and brain activity (EEG) responses …
Prior to slaughter, most farmed birds move through a constant-voltage, multiple-bird, electrical water-bath stun system. Using this system subjects live …
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 …
During the 2009 annual meeting of the Poultry Science Association, a symposium entitled “Global Views of New Agriculture: Food, Energy, …
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 …
The expansion in supplies of spent heavy fowl and the increasing use of broiler meat in further processed food products have reduced the market for spent laying hens to the point that these birds frequently have no value. If spent hens cannot be sold through traditional channels, egg producers must seek alternative ways t odispose …
Newly hatched chicks are routinely subjected to varying durations of transport shortly after hatching. Because little is known about the effects of this putative stressor on behavioural development, the present experiment tested for the effects of a simulated long transport-like treatment during the first day of life in two strains of laying hen chicks on …
Reports and guidelines produced by international institutions such as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE, 2005) describe various methods of killing nonhuman animals. Selection and implementation of a killing method may involve several factors. Preventing or minimizing risk to human health and safety may override animal welfare concerns if the disease has the potential …
When hens kept for commercial egg production reach the end of their economically viable life span, they are usually transported to a processing plant for conversion into meat products. In this article, we review methods used in Canada and the United States for the catching and removing of these “spent” hens from the layer house …
There have been two excellent reviews recently on concussion stunning and electrical stunning (Schutt-Abraham, 1999; Shaw, 2002). The focus in this paper is on recent information not covered in those reviews, and on aspects of stunning and slaughter that are likely to become more important in the next five to ten years. The topics that …
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 …
