Assessment of welfare of Brazilian and Belgian broiler flocks using the Welfare Quality protocol.

The Welfare Quality consortium has proposed a science-based protocol for assessing broiler chicken welfare on farms. Innovative features make the protocols particularly suited for comparative studies, such as the focus on animal-based welfare measures and an integration procedure for calculating an overall welfare status. These protocols reflect the scientific status up to 2009 but are meant to be updated on the basis of inter alia implementation studies.

Performance of an animal-based test of thirst in commercial broiler chicken farms.

Animal-based measures of thirst are currently absent from animal welfare monitoring schemes due to the lack of a well-validated indicator applicable for on-farm use. In the present study, an on-farm test based on voluntary water consumption from an unfamiliar open drinker was validated in a (semi-)commercial setting. To investigate the effect of thirst on water consumption, we subjected 4 flocks of 1,500 broilers to either 0 or 12 h of water deprivation and subsequently measured the amount of water that small subgroups consumed after the deprivation period (first experiment).

Dehydration indicators for broiler chickens at slaughter.

Freedom of (prolonged) thirst is considered to be of paramount importance for animal welfare. This emotion normally results from dehydration, which can be measured using physiological indicators. Because no reliable physiological indicator for thirst was available for broilers, we aimed to identify such a measure in this study.