Organic Production Systems And Hen Welfare
The organic farming of laying hens is increasing in popularity and practice. In the Netherlands in 2001, there were 150,000 hens on 40 farms. By 2011, these figures had grown to 2.1 million hens on 194 farms. Despite this dramatic increase in the number of hens in production systems, the last review of organic hen welfare in the Netherlands took place between 2001 and 2002. Since this time, organic chicken farming has been subject to new regulations. For example, beak trimming has been banned, provision of aviaries is mandatory, stocking density is limited to less than six hens per square meter of space, and hens must have access to outdoor areas.
This paper, published in the journal Animals, aimed to determine whether farming practices during the rearing of organic hens are related to the health and welfare of the hens during their laying stage. The authors collected data on 49 flocks of laying hens in the Netherlands between 2007 and 2008. They distributed questionnaires to farmers about “housing and management, hybrid type, flock size, number of birds per m2, feed, feed intake, egg production, mortality, mislaid egg percentage, feather pecking damage, health problems, and use of the free-range area.” The authors also visually assessed the hens, looking for wounds, keel bone deformities, feather condition, and foot sole abnormalities. They recorded the hens’ body weight and obtained manure samples to check for worms. The authors used regression analysis and t-test statistical tests to determine the significance of their results.
Notable results included the following:
- Hen mortality and the amount of time the animals spent outdoors during the laying period.
- The more frequently and the earlier the hens used an outside area, the better the farmers generally considered their health and welfare to be, especially in terms of feather condition.
- The faster young hens grew, the greater their body weight was in later life.
- Administration of worming medication and laying efficiency or mortality.
- Keel bone deformity and perch type or housing type.
- Foot sole abnormalities and the use of an outdoor area.
The study also raised a number of questions for consideration. For example, why have previous studies found a link between free-range farming and higher mortality rates when this study did not? And which is worse for hen welfare – a higher mortality rate or more feather damage? The answers to these questions would affect the welfare score of organic and free-range egg farming.
Finally, the authors acknowledge concern that voluntary participating may have resulted in a greater number of responses from farms with higher welfare standards. As such, results may portray better hen health and welfare than is actually the case. Also, farmers were sometimes responsible for recording and relaying the data. This means they could miss some signs of poor welfare that a veterinarian would otherwise spot.
Overall, for animal advocates this study provides evidence of increased welfare for hens in organic farming systems compared to industrialized and even free-range systems. Most importantly, the study results show that access to a free-range outdoor area is critical to increased welfare because it allows hens to display natural behaviors. In addition, access to more space reduces the incidence of pecking and feather damage.
[Contributed by Jenny Mace]
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/4/2/374/htm