Welfare of the Laying Hen

by Graham C. Perry

Overview

The welfare of egg-producing poultry is a topic of great concern to the poultry industry and to researchers in applied animal behavior. It is also subject to increased legislation. Issues such as battery cages, space requirements, access to daylight and "free-range" eggs have attracted public interest. This book brings together edited papers from the 27th Poultry Science Symposium of the World's Poultry Science Association (UK branch), held in Bristol in July 2003. Topics covered include: welfare issues, perception and cognition, behavior, health and diseases, stockmanship and the environment, handling, slaughter and transport, and perspectives of consumers and producers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780851998138
Publisher:	CABI
Publication date:	07/20/2004
Series:	Poultry Science Symposium Series , #27
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.75(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

* The importance of welfare

Part I: THE STAKEHOLDERS
* Hen welfare: consumer perspective
* Government views on the welfare of laying hens
* Politics of hen welfare, D Wilkins, Eurogroup for Animal Welfare, Belgium
* Implications of the World Trade Organization on hen welfare
* The retailer-consumer relationship with particular reference to animal welfare
* Quality assurance
* The producer and hen welfare

PART II: OVERVIEWS
* The laying hen: systems of production
* Stress and the welfare of laying hens

PART III: WELFARE ISSUES
* Genetic influences on resource use, fear and sociality
* The genetics of feather pecking and cannibalism
* Breeding for productivity and welfare
* Sensory perception : chemoreception
* Vision in the laying hen
* Pain and the laying hen
* Chicken cognition
* Social space for laying hens
* Nesting, perching and dust-bathing
* Environmental enrichment: the need for practical strategies to improve poultry welfare
* Feather pecking and feather loss
* Cannibalism
* Skeletal disorders in laying hens: the problem of osteoporosis and bone fractures
* Disease control, D Shingleton, Waterman Farm, UK Environmental management for laying hens
* Lighting
* Nutrition, feedstuffs and feeding
* Human – animal interactions
* Handling and catching of hens during depopulation
* Transport of chicks, pullets and spent hens
* Stunning and slaughter

PART IV: OUTCOMES
* Overview

PART V: Posters