Development and Validation of Broiler Welfare Assessment Methods for Research and On-farm Audits

ABSTRACT

Required auditing of on-farm broiler welfare in the United States has increased; however, a lack of validated tools exists for assessment of enrichment. National Chicken Council (NCC) guidelines were used on a subset of 300 Ross 308 broilers out of 1200 to validate and adapt welfare measures. Half of the broilers were exposed to environmental enrichment, hence these measures were used to evaluate the enrichment within the context of behavior and welfare, although the nature of the enrichment is not described in detail here as the aim is to serve solely as a description and validation of methods using a subset of example data. Birds were recorded in repeated 4-min periods to quantify behavior and walking distance. Outcomes were categorized to improve auditing and make recommendations to producers and researchers. Bone mineral density, content, and breaking strength were successful in determining numerical differences. Quantifying lameness using an enclosed walkway and measuring footpad dermatitis weekly are recommended on-farm. We recommend including additional measures not required by the NCC: monitoring breast condition in the flock and including a behavior component with a scoring ethogram.

KEYWORDS:

• Welfare
• broiler
• enrichment
• lameness
• behavior

Acknowledgments

This project was conducted and supported as part of US Poultry and Egg Grant #703. The Iowa State Poultry Research and Teaching Unit farm crew are recognized for animal husbandry and assistance in collecting performance measures. Additional on-farm undergraduate assistance was provided by Julianna Jespersen, Stephanie Nielson, and Maddison Wiersema, along with the help of M.S. student Ella Akin and Dr. Samaneh Azarpajouh. Undergraduate students Maddison Wiersema, Courtney Jaeger, Kathryn Kuhl, Julianna Jespersen, Caitlyn Spencer, and Breanna Bagby are recognized for video and image behavior analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by US Poultry & Egg Association Grant #703.