Time series of chicken stool metagenomics and egg metabolomics in changing production systems: preliminary insights from a proof-of-concept.

Background: Different production systems of livestock animals influence various factors, including the gut microbiota.

Methods: We investigated whether changing the conditions from barns to free-range chicken farming impacts the microbiome over the course of three weeks. We compared the stool microbiota of chicken from industrial barns after introducing them either in community or separately to a free-range environment.