Laying hen housing not all it’s cracked up to be
By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
I just finished reading some more animal science studies out of Europe (a sure cure for insomnia) on what “free range” and “free run” laying hens are up against. And it’s a bit of a buyer-beware scenario too. Although it is a small niche market here in North America, so-called “cage-free” egg production in the UK has steadily grown in the last 20 years. That is where egg laying hens can move around within the confines of a pasture or barn. But the health and animal welfare news isn’t all good.
According to the report by Scottish poultry scientist Barry Thorp, the move to “cage-free” production has worsened not improved the health of the country’s commercial egg laying flock. His research shows two problems, namely; that old diseases are coming back and together with new ones arriving from Europe they are spreading in the UK. He surmised that this disease problem is coming from “cage-free” farms.
The reason is that these more open farms can’t limit diseases, when they do occur, as easily as closed cage systems. And because these housing systems can’t be kept clean the same way as caged housing can, nasty stuff builds up. Farm pastures and barn floors, if not very carefully managed, are a good environment to harbour and spread disease. Just the way our kitchen floors would if we didn’t wash them. And one reason we keep our pet budgies in cages.
Unlike cage housing, the hens and eggs in more open housing can come in contact with infected ground, so disease and parasites get passed around. And unlike chickens raised for meat, egg laying hens live in that environment for a year or more so have a longer time to be exposed. This, Dr. Thorp reported, has lead to higher chicken mortality, fewer eggs produced and a need for more medical interventions.
The startling finding is that these diseases are not just confined to “cage-free” farms but seem to be spreading to other poultry farms too- transferred by people and wild animals or spread by the wind. One solution he suggests is to develop new poultry vaccines and antibiotics to prevent and treat these emerging diseases. A slow and costly process, and a solution neither consumers nor farmers want to have happen.
And more disease isn’t the only problem Dr. Thorp’s research has found. He says the trade off behind the good intentions of giving hens the freedom to move around has other problems. He reported that feather pecking and vent (that is where the egg comes out) pecking continued to be a problem in some systems, especially in organic flocks. Adding, there was a serious need to find ways of preventing this harmful often fatal behavior.
Dr Thorp’s research was supported by a second study presented by researchers from Ghent University in Belgium at this year’s World Poultry Science Association meeting. Although not a major problem to begin with, this study however did find that the eggs from hens that are raised on barn floors and in aviary-style barns (where birds can freely move back and forth between the floor and multiple levels) have a slightly higher risk of Salmonella contamination. This, the report says, is caused by bird-to-bird transmission and switched on by the stress these birds experience living in groups that are much larger than their caged cousins.
These are all problems that egg farmers already know about and that egg laying cages have been developed to prevent. While there have been older European studies to suggest the opposite is true, there are just as many or more that support these most recent findings. So although the research remains inconclusive, a study is about to be launched to look at the consequences of “cage-free” production here in North America. A difficult task with Canada’s very few free run/range farms to draw from. But a necessary one if this niche market continues to grow.
Meanwhile, the country’s first academic Chair of Poultry Welfare, at the University of Guelph was announced today. This $800,000 research investment by the Egg Farmers of Canada, a national farmers’ group, is yet another example of how farmers are supporting the research required to meet the needs of their birds, their customers and the egg market.
Until the Next Blog
Posted by OFAC on May 12th, 2011 :: Filed under Chickens,eggs,Housing,Poultry,Research
Tags :: animal welfare, eggs, free range, Housing, Research
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