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FarmBiosecurity is a free app that enables you to create a biosecurity plan. The app is an effective tool using six biosecurity essentials with an Action Planner. Simply select the actions that apply to you or type in your own actions. Your selections then become a to-do list that you can share with others or email to yourself and print out. The app is a free, portable biosecurity plan ready to view, even without internet access. Attach photos as reminders for later [...]
It makes good sense to reduce the risk of spreading pests or disease. Farm Biosecurity has produced a range of videos to assist in creating ‘on farm’ processes and practices to instil into your daily routines. Once good practice is a habit, it has long lasting benefits.. see more (external site)
On 31 March 2016, Consumer Affairs Ministers agreed to the introduction of an information standard requiring eggs labelled as ‘free range’ to have been laid by hens that had meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range, and were subject to an outdoor stocking density of 10,000 hens per hectare or less. The information standard will require producers to prominently disclose the outdoor stocking density of hens laying free range eggs on their packaging allowing consumers to easily compare different [...]
The extraction of keratin protein from chicken feathers poses an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to rid the poultry industry of waste. Glenneis Kriel reports. Poultry consumption generates more than five million tons of feathers a year. Demand for this by-product is unfortunately low, with most of it ending up being burned, buried or ground up as feed for livestock. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, along with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, is however researching [...]
When designing any kind of system or service it is important to see it from the user’s point of view. We believe the same is true for animal agriculture. When McDonald’s UK tasked us with improving their egg supply chain we started our process by understanding the chicken. McDonald’s Hens and Trees We discovered that our ordinary chicken’s ancestor was a South East Asian jungle fowl. It lived and flourished under the canopy of trees. This varied environment allowed the chicken [...]
It is well known that storing eggs longer than 7 days decreases the hatchability. In fact, the longer eggs are stored, the higher the losses in hatchability (Figure 1). Stored eggs have a higher rate of embryonic mortality between days 2 and 3 of incubation, and need more time to complete incubation…Read more
Adding whole eggs to a colourful salad boosts the amount of Vitamin E the body absorbs from the vegetables, according to research from Purdue University. “Vitamin E is the second-most under-consumed nutrient in the average American diet, which is problematic because this fat-soluble nutrient has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties,” said Wayne Campbell, a professor of nutrition science. “Now consumers can easily improve their diets by adding eggs to a salad that boasts a variety of colourful vegetables.” Jung Eun Kim, a [...]
There are several options to measure the chicks’ temperature and to see whether it’s normal. Small chicks’ feet must never feel cold when you feel them against your cheek, or better still against your lips or the back of your hand. Cold feet are a sign that the heat from the birds is being sucked away via the surface they are standing on….more
Interactive resource on the chicken anatomy. See more An understanding of the anatomy and physiology of birds, and the different body systems found in the bird, is useful when an understanding of how poultry work or function, is sought. Knowledge of bird anatomy (body parts) and physiology (body function) enables the poultry industry to maximise bird performance and maintain good welfare practices. See more
Sometimes one runs into things that are really mind blowing. One example of that is technology that can determine the sex of chicken embryos while they are still in the egg using light or a tiny drop of egg fluid. Sounds like sci-fi but this technique may avoid chick culling in hatcheries. More here