• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.61-80
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• 2010

Poultry welfare has recently appeared as worldwide concern as well as Korea. The recent action plan for farm animal welfare introduced by the European Commission intends to expand the body of regulatory standards. In this context, many countries and/or organization are on the verge of establishing the most optimum poultry welfare standards. To establish the most optimum standards, comparative analysis of feeding regimen before and after welfare-bestowed environment need to be preceded. Most guidelines or standards for poultry welfare do not suggest the nutritional requirements and feeding system in detail, although it is deterimental especially for the farmer. This review intends to find scientific base to establish detailed welfare feeding guidelines. However, only limited research has been conducted in the view of actual poultry welfare. The results indicated the incidence of SDS, ascites, skeletal dysfunctions caused by fast growth rate in broiler, feather pecking and cannibalism in laying hen, and feed restriction in broiler breeder could be reduced by changing nutritional regimen and feeding strategies or both. The regimen and feeding strategies are certainly near to the direction that the poultry welfare ought to be in the right track. In this article, feeding and drinking guidelines in many standards as well as welfare feeding experiments have been reviewed and compared In the view of chicken productivity, welfare physiology and poultry health.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.113-132
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• 2005

With the demand for free-range products increasing and the pressure on the intensive poultry industry to improve poultry welfare especially in western countries, the number of free-range poultry farms has increased significantly. The USA, Australia and European countries have developed Codes of Practice for free-range poultry farming which detail the minimum standards of husbandry and welfare for birds. However, the performance and liveability of free-range birds needs to be improved and more knowledge is required on bird husbandry, feed supply, disease control and heat wave management. This review examines the husbandry, welfare, nutrition and disease issues associated with free-range poultry systems and discusses the potential of incorporating free-range poultry into a crop-pasture rotation system.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2018

This study was conducted twice to investigate egg purchase behavior and perception on animal welfare of Korean consumers. This study included women, who were the main decision makers and caretakers in the household, and men with one-person household. This survey was conducted with by the Computer Assisted Web Interview and Gang Survey methods. On the key considerations factor, the highest response rate was considered to be 'price', and the response rate of considering 'packing date' increased in the second survey. At a reasonable price based on 10 eggs, the response rate was the highest at 53.8% and 42.9% in both the first and second surveys and the appropriate price averages were 2,482 won and 2,132 won, respectively. The highest rate of purchase of egg consumers from 'Large Mart' followed by 'Medium sized supermarket' and 'Chain supermarket'. As for the awareness about animal welfare, the recognition ratio (73.5%) was higher in the result of the second survey than the first. The cognitive period of animal welfare was 59.0% before the insecticide egg crisis and 41.0% thereafter. Regarding whether or not they have ever seen an animal welfare certification mark and an animal welfare animal farm certification mark, 59.6% of respondents said that they saw it for the first time and 37.6% answered that they knew the animal welfare certification mark. On the animal welfare system, the 'free-range' response rate was the highest at 85.8%. The 'free-range' fit response decreased by 34.2%p, while the 'barn' and 'European type' fit response increased by 13.2%p and 24.1%p, respectively. The number of 'I have never seen' and 'I have ever eaten' responses to the recognition and eating experience of animal welfare certified eggs decreased while the number of those who answered 'Have ever seen' and 'Have eaten' increased. The answer of purchasing animal welfare certified eggs at department stores, organic farming cooperatives, and internet shopping malls was higher than that of buying conventional eggs. Of the total respondents, 92.0% were willing to purchase an animal welfare egg before the price was offered, but after offering the prices of animal welfare eggs, the intention to purchase was 62.7%, which was about 30%p lower than before. The reason for purchasing an animal welfare certified egg was the highest score of 71.0% for 'I think it is likely to be high in food safety', and 38.1% for 'I think the price is high' for lack of intention to purchase. In the sensory evaluation of animal welfare eggs, egg color and skin texture of conventional eggs were significantly higher than those of certified welfare eggs (P<0.05), and boiled eggs showed that egg whites of animal welfare certified eggs were more (P<0.05). As a result, the results of this study will contribute to the activation of the animal welfare certification system for laying hens by providing basic data on consumer awareness to animal welfare certified farmers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.593-600
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• 1992

Animal welfare is often neglected by livestock productionists when considering the utilization of animal wastes for livestock feeds. The present review has been carried out to examine the nutritive value of poultry wastes for ruminants, the health risks involved with feeding it, the treatment and feeding methods and the production responses of animals fed on it. It was found that mineral, crude protein, crude fibre and metabolisable energy concentrations are influenced by the system of poultry production, the storage of the waste and the treatment method. Heating at $60^{\circ}C$ kills all pathogens apart from Clostidium botulinum whereas proper ensiling kills all. Apart from the kidney fat and the liver, animal tissues have not shown residues of drugs or heavy metals from poultry wastes. Palatability is affected when the moisture is more than 200 g/kg. Production responses are satisfactory when poultry wastes replace portions of concentrates. It was concluded that poultry litter generally has higher metabolisable energy contents than poultry manure, but research is needed to classify poultry litters on their energy values. The adverse effects of toxic minerals and drug residues are negligible in balanced poultry waste feeding systems.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 2009

Animal welfare is of considerable importance to European consumers and citizens, this being most recently confirmed in EU barometer studies. Researchers and others have long proposed that animal-based measures (measures taken on animals, e.g. their health and behaviour) can provide a valid indicator of animal welfare; since welfare is a characteristic of the individual animal. Therefore, a welfare assessment can be essentially based on animal-based measures, but with use of resource measures to provide the capacity to assess 'risk factors'. The first goal of this project was to develop a welfare monitoring system that enables assessment of welfare status through standardised conversion of welfare measures into accessible and understandable information. The acquired information on one hand provides feedback to animal unit managers about the welfare status of their animals, and on the other, information on the welfare status of animal-related products for consumers and retailers. The second goal of Welfare $Quality^{(R)}$ was to improve animal welfare by minimising the occurrence of harmful behavioural and physiological states, improving human-animal relationships, and providing animals with safe and stimulating environments. The different measurable aspects of welfare to be covered are turned into welfare criteria. The criteria reflect what is meaningful to animals as understood by animal welfare science. Once all the measures have been performed on an animal unit, a bottom-up approach is followed to produce an overall assessment of animal welfare on that particular unit: first the data collected (i.e. values obtained for the different measures on the animal unit) are combined to calculate criterion-scores; then criterion-scores are combined to calculate principle-scores; and finally the animal unit is assigned to a welfare category according to the principle-scores it obtained.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigate the detection rate and serotypes of Salmonella spp. in conventional and welfare poultry farms. Ten welfare (five layer and five broiler) and 15 conventional farms (five layer and ten broiler farms) were visited to collect environmental samples for identification and serotyping of Salmonella spp. The detection rate of Salmonella spp. was higher in the welfare farms than in conventional farms in both layer and broiler farms. In layer farms, Salmonella spp. was detected in 0.76% (1 out of 130) of samples from one of five welfare layer farms, but was not detected in the five in conventional layer farms. No significan ifference (P>0.05) was observed between the welfare and conventional layer farms. In broiler farms, Salmonella spp. was detected in 10.5% (21 out of 200) of samples from four of five welfare broiler farms and 3.5% (7 out of 200) of samples from five of ten conventional broiler farms, and a significant difference (p <0.05) was observed between the welfare and conventional broiler farms. Among 29 Salmonella spp. isolates, five isolates were serotyped to Salmonella enterica subsp. Enteritidis (n=2), Salmonella enterica subsp. Grampian (n=1), Salmonella enterica subsp. Virchow (n=1), and Salmonella enterica subsp. Senftenberg (n=1). These results suggest that microbial risks could be higher in welfare farms than in conventional farms due to easy access to open-air areas, environmental enrichment, and reduced use of antibiotics. Therefore, continuous monitoring and surveillance for Salmonella spp. is necessary to improve the microbiological safety of poultry meat.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1796-1804
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• 2016

The high incidence of deaths during transport for slaughter is associated with poor welfare and represents a considerable loss to the poultry industry. In the period from 2009 to 2014, all shipments of broiler chickens to poultry processing plants were monitored in the Czech Republic and the numbers of chickens transported and those dying as a result of their transport were recorded and analysed. Overall transport-related mortality of broiler chickens transported for slaughter in the Czech Republic was 0.37%. It ranged from 0.31% to 0.72%, the increase approximately corresponding to the increasing transport distance. Statistically highly significant (p<0.001) differences were found when comparing transport-related mortality rates in individual seasons of the year. The greatest mortality (0.55%) was associated with transports carried out in winter months whereas the lowest death losses (0.30%) were found in chickens transported for slaughter in summer months. Our study revealed greater transport-related mortality rates in broiler chickens transported for slaughter in the Czech Republic than expected when considering earlier studies. The most pronounced increases were found in transports for shorter distances and in winter months. However, an increase was found at all transport distances monitored except for distances exceeding 300 km and all seasons except for summer. Furthermore, a general increasing tendency in chicken losses during the monitored period was found. The particularly alarming finding is that the mortality of broiler chickens being transported to processing plants has been showing a long-term increasing tendency over the last two decades. Further research should focus on the identification of specific factors leading to such high and growing mortality rates and developing practical guidelines to improve the welfare of the birds in transit accordingly.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2017

The purpose of this survey was to collect basic data on breeding systems of animal welfare-approved laying hen farms in Korea. Questionnaires were mailed to 64 animal welfare-approved farms, and 20 questionnaires (31.3%) were returned. The housing systems were fabric coverlet (4 farms, representing 20%), naturally farmed (Yamagisi, 7 farms, 35%), and steel panel-framed housing (9 farms, 45%). The 20 farms had stocking densities of $2{\sim}3birds/m^2$ (2 farms; 10%), $4{\sim}5birds/m^2$ (10 farms; 50%), and $6{\sim}7birds/m^2$ (8 farms; 40%). Breeding methods were floor-housed (14 farms; 70%), free-range (3 farms; 15%), and floor plus free-range (3 farms; 15%). Stocking density was $4{\sim}6birds/m^2$ at most of the farms with fabric coverlet and naturally farmed housing and $6{\sim}7birds/m^2$ at seven farms (of 9 farms) with a steel panel-framed housing. The daily feed intake of 11 farms (55%) was between 120 and 130 g, which included 3 farms (15%) with fabric coverlet, 3 farms (15%) with naturally farmed housing, and 5 farms (25%) with steel panel-framed housing. The age of peak production was 24~28 weeks overall 20 farms. Over 80% of production on fabric coverlet, naturally farmed, and steel panel-framed house farms was on 3, 4 and 6 farms, respectively. Respiratory disease on the 20 farms represented 55% of total disease incidence, and of each housing type represented 75% (fabric coverlet), 70% (naturally farmed) and 33% (steel panel-framed). E. coli disease was only found in the steel panel-framed housing. Most of the animal welfare-approved eggs were sold at large markets or a real sale markets. Egg price was 200~250 won per egg. These results indicate the current situation of animal welfare-approved farms and could be caused that windowless poultry house was applied to animal welfare approved farms.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.181-192
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• 2010

This review was performed to investigate the current researches on the welfare of rearing environments system in farming chicken, including stocking density, perch, housing system and research trend. The investigation indicated that most of the developed countries took much efforts into making appropriate regulations to improve the welfare of rearing environment about broilers and laying hens, particularly more parts in laying hens. Recently the regulations have varied a lot, to be more detailed than before. Moreover, some regulations give valuable suggestions to improve well-being of poultry industry such as additional facilities. Until now it has been known, the quality of the products will improve and the income of producers will increase along with the improvement of welfare. Therefore the relevant agencies and organizations can strengthen the belief of consumers especially the competition is so fierce today. In conclusion, improvement of poultry welfare should be carried out in the real situation and international trends to create the appropriate rules such as professional consulting and training.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.199-210
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• 2020

Footpad dermatitis (plantar surface footpad lesions) is an increasing problem in the global poultry industry, affecting foot quality, overall welfare, and production performance. The growing consumer demand for chicken feet in Asian markets has given poultry companies interest in reducing footpad dermatitis. The lesions are multiply associated with various factors affecting the moisture content of litter such as nutrition, drinker type and management, environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, ammonia levels, ventilation rate), and flock health. This review addresses footpad dermatitis characteristics, causes, and the assessment system to provide a guide for future research.