Poultry Welfare Remains a Hot Topic

The International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE) reported record-breaking attendance with close to 33,000 attendees¹ from around the world at the Atlanta event in January. Sponsored by the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, the American Feed Industry Association and the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the event offered over 140 hours of education sessions. The 2019 International Poultry Scientific Forum² held during the Expo, featured several abstracts on studies looking at animal welfare issues in poultry, including:

• Development of On-Farm Euthanasia Methods for Individual Turkeys and Broilers that compared and assessed on-farm euthanasia methods for larger, older birds that could be conducted safely by a single operator. (P258)
• Is Scatter Feeding Enriching for Broiler Chicks? This study looked at enrichment and whether scatter feeding will stimulate forage behavior. Enrichment is a large area of study looking at improving the mental state of the bird. (P259)
• A study that looked at the effect of stocking density and dietary antimicrobial inclusion on blood physiological variables of male broilers grown to 35 days of age. This study looked at conventionally grown broilers (antibiotics given) and antibiotic free with four different stocking densities and found that stocking density showed no effect. Neither treatment showed physiological stress based on blood glucose and plasma corticosterone. (P274)

^{1The Poultry Site. 2019 IPPE sets four new records. March 1, 2019. http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/41090/2019-ippe-sets-four-new-records/. Accessed February 21, 2019.
2International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE). International Poultry Scientific Forum. http://www.ippexpo.org/ipsf/. Accessed February 21, 2019.}