Summer has arrived and your spring chicks will be approaching puberty. Assuming they’ve enjoyed good food and care, the young hens, called pullets, begin laying sometime between their 16th and 24th week of age. You can anticipate the arrival of…
Raising layer hens is an investment in fresh, wholesome eggs. Your hens will perform best if they have room to live and roam, nutritious feed, fresh water, and a safe, comfortable coop to nest and roost. Your coop should have…
Mouth: It all starts here. Esophagus (Gullet): Transports food from the mouth to the stomach. Crop: A pouch in the esophagus used to store food temporarily before moving it on to the stomach. Stomach (Proventriculus/Gizzard):Principally the organ where food is…
A common question among poultry owners, especially those new to raising birds, is “How much do my birds eat, so I know how much feed to buy?”. Below are some general guidelines to go by, keeping in mind that a…
The stomach worm (Ostertagia ostertagi) is the most commonly identified worm in dairy cows. However, although over 90 per cent of animals can be infected, they rarely show overt clinical signs. This means that despite the reduction in appetite, fertility…
It was a few years ago when the egg sector heard first about the mission of ISA, The layer Business Unit of Hendrix Genetics. “Breeding layers capable of producing 500 first quality eggs by 2020”. Today, only five years away…
The catching of broilers prior to transport and slaughter is the subject of much concern from animal welfare organisations and the general public. A study by Nina Langkabel and colleagues in the August issue of Poultry Science looked at two…
DENMARK – Antimicrobial use in Danish animals decreased in 2014, due mainly to decreased consumption in the pig production. These are some of the findings in the annual DANMAP report from Statens Serum Institut and the National Food Institute, Technical…
This article from Ronnie Cons, EVP C&C Packing Inc., discusses the negative effects of noise on the health of chickens and how to prevent them. Chickens, like all vertebrates, are governed by a circadian rhythm that is controlled by the…
Significant time and money are invested in creating the right production environment and with the premium price of organic feed, no stone is left unturned for ingredient and feed quality assurance programmes, Dr Watkins continued. Yet in spite of the…
