Manure odor profiling for flock-level monitoring on commercial layer pullet farms: Vaccination events as a model stressor.

Continuous, non-invasive, and objective methods to detect flock-level responses to stressors, including intestinal health deviations, are currently lacking in poultry. This proof of principle study investigated the potential of manure odor profiling in monitoring stress responses in Lohmann Brown Classic, Lohmann LSL Classic and Lohmann LSL Lite layer pullets. Stressors were represented by a Salmonella vaccination given to the pullets at wk 3 of age (Dataset 1 and Dataset 2) and wk 16 of age (Dataset 4) and a viral/bacterial vaccine cocktail given at wk 12 of age (Dataset 3).

Dataset with updated ozone depletion characterization factors for life cycle impact assessment.

This dataset provides the latest characterization factors for ozone depletion based on the most recent ozone depletion potentials from the 2022 World Meteorological Organization (WMO) scientific assessment. These characterization factors can be used in life cycle assessment (LCA) to convert emissions of ozone-depleting substances to the common unit of the ozone depletion impact category, measured in kg CFC-11-eq. The dataset is formatted for easy import into LCA software such as Brightway, the Activity Browser, and SimaPro.

Perception of laying hen farmers, poultry veterinarians, and poultry experts regarding sensor-based continuous monitoring of laying hen health and welfare.

Daily farm management practices play an essential role in determining and steering health, welfare and productivity of laying hen flocks. Optimal management requires expertise of farmers and coworkers, especially when hens are kept in complex, large-scale aviary systems. Relatively little sensor-based support is available to farmers, even though numerous research groups are working on developing technologies to continuously detect deviations in layer health and welfare.

Gregarious nesting in relation to floor eggs in broiler breeders.

Gregarious nesting has often been observed in laying hens, where hens prefer to visit a nest already occupied by other hens over empty nests. This may result in overcrowding of the nests which is considered a welfare issue and, moreover, can increase the economic issue of floor eggs. This study aimed to describe gregarious nesting and spatial behavior in broiler breeders and how this relates to genetic background, fearfulness and mating behavior.

Influence of a raised slatted area in front of the nest on leg health, mating behaviour and floor eggs in broiler breeders.

European farms for broiler breeders often have raised slatted areas in front of the nests, but in other regions of the world no raised slatted areas are provided. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a raised slatted area on leg health, mating behaviour and floor laying behaviour. Ten groups of 33 broiler breeder hens and three males were housed in two pen types: with or without a raised slatted area in front of the nests.