Public concern about the quality of life of farm animals has been increasing in recent years in Europe and the world. Animals are now defined as “sentient beings” in the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999), and in 2002 the German Parliament decided to include animal welfare in the German constitution being one of the constitutional aims. The present discussion on poultry production and husbandry in Euro...

An explorative field study was carried out to determine risk factors for Salmonella infections in commercial laying hen flocks. For this purpose, 29 laying hen farms, including farms using conventional and alternative housing systems, were intensively sampled. An on-farm questionnaire was used to collect information on general management practices and specific characteristics of the sampled flo...

Fatty liver is a common energy metabolic disorder in caged laying hens. Considering that the egg industry is shifting from conventional cages to alternative housing systems such as enriched cages, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of perches on fat deposition and liver health in laying hens. Three hundred twenty-four 17-wk-old White Leghorn hens were housed in 1 of 4 trea...

Only healthy laying hens are capable of producing an average of 280 eggs in 1 year of exploitation. Production of consume eggs takes place in intensive housing systems where the laying hens are still mainly kept in cages under controlled conditions. Technical infrastructure and hygiene quality do not guarantee a production atmosphere completely free from pollutants, including potential patholog...

Feather pecking and high mortality levels are significant welfare problems in non-cage housing systems for laying hens. The aim of this study was to identify husbandry-related risk factors for feather damage, mortality, and egg laying performance in laying hens housed in the multi-tier non-cage housing systems known as aviaries. Factors tested included type of system flooring, degree of red mit...

Animal behaviors are often composed of distinct alternating behavioral states. Neuromodulatory signals are thought to be critical for establishing stable behavioral states and for orchestrating transitions between them. However, we have only a limited understanding of how neuromodulatory systems act in vivo to alter circuit performance and shape behavior. To address these questions, we have inv...

The EU ban on conventional barren cages for laying hens from 2012 has improved many aspects of laying hen welfare. The new housing systems allow for the expression of highly-motivated behaviors. However, the systems available for intensive large-scale egg production (e.g., aviaries, floor housing systems, furnished cages) may cause other welfare challenges. We have reviewed the literature regar...

based upon them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Time of beginning of laying in the first year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Time of beginning of laying in the second year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Time of cessation of layin...