The sustainability of future poultry production needs to be improved in order to meet global challenges. The global chicken population has expanded significantly in recent decades, due to increased human demand for eggs and chicken meat. Therefore, it is critically important to mitigate challenges to the sustainability of modern poultry production, such as pollution, the depletion of finite natural resources and animal welfare issues. This study systematically mapped the scientific literature on farm-level sustainability in egg and chicken meat production. The concept of sustainability was considered holistically, covering its economic, environmental and social dimensions, each consisting of a broad range of different aspects that may contradict or reinforce each other. The literature published between January 2000 and March 2020 with a geographical focus on Europe, North America and Australia–New Zealand, were included. The literature search resulted in a total of 428 hits, but after the exclusion of articles that did not match the scope of the study, only 26 papers remained for the systematic mapping. Of these, only three papers covered all three dimensions of sustainability. Aspects of economic sustainability were addressed in 10 papers, aspects of environmental sustainability in 18 papers, and aspects of social sustainability in 23 papers. The findings in this study are an important foundation for the discussion and prioritisation of future actions to increase knowledge of farm-level sustainability in egg and chicken meat production.

Slower-growing broilers on organic farms have replaced fast-growing hybrids to increase bird welfare. Due to limited knowledge of broiler welfare and management on organic farms in Sweden, the study aim was to gather information regarding health, housing and management routines, in order to describe the current situation on these. Farm visits performed in 2018 included 8 out of 12 established organic farms, on which either Rowan Ranger or HubbardJA57/HubbardJA87 were reared. Chickens in the observed flocks were 55 ± 6 (44–62) days of age. Observations included farmer interviews, indoor environment assessments, clinical examinations and gait scoring. Clinical examinations revealed no severe remarks, however minor to moderate plumage dirtiness, food pad dermatitis and hock burns were found in 47%, 21% and 13% of the birds, respectively. Although no severe walking impairments were observed, minor to moderate gait abnormalities were seen in two-thirds of the birds. Gait in birds assessed outdoors was significantly better than in birds observed indoors. Body weight uniformity was low in all flocks. This study provides increased knowledge of certain chicken health and welfare aspects, housing and management on Swedish organic farms. Future research should further investigate important aspects related to bird welfare, such as the high mortality rates observed.

The purpose of the present study describes the current welfare situation on a commercial organic laying hen farms in Sweden in terms of indoor environment, bird health and behaviour.Organic laying hen farms (n=11) in Sweden were visited for one day each. The farm visits were performed at end of lay, and involved farmer interviews, indoor environment assessments, behavioural observations and tests and clinical examinations in one flock per farm.In 95% of all human avoidance distance test trials performed, the hens distanced themselves from the observer before the test was completed. Median number of birds per flock approaching during a novel object test (n=4 trials per flock) was 2 (0-9). These results indicated a high level of fear of humans and general fearfulness among the hens.Plumage damage was especially prevalent and most severe on the breast and belly, tail and wings, with median prevalence of moderate-severe damage of 96% (84-100), 96% (72-100) and 98% (94-100), respectively. Median prevalence of keel bone deviations was 67% (32-84) with 3% fractures (0-8). Median prevalence of breast skin lesions was 57% (10-74). There was a significant positive association between breast skin lesions and keel bone deviations (P=0.02) and foot pad hyperkeratosis (P<0.001). Median prevalence of severe hyperkeratosis was 33% (8-96), with prevalence being significantly lower where litter depth was thicker (P=0.003). More dust bathing events were observed in flocks where litter depth was thicker (P=0.007).The present study contributes with updated knowledge of laying hen welfare on organic farms in Sweden. The results confirmed previous on-farm studies, demonstrating that important issues, including keel bone damage and severe feather pecking, remain in need of attention to ensure the welfare of laying hens in future commercial egg production.

Two slower-growing hybrids (Rowan Ranger and Hubbard) are currently reared in organic broiler production in Sweden, but knowledge of bird welfare on commercial farms is limited. This study examined chicken behaviour, including free-range use and features of this, in order to enhance knowledge, describe the current situation and identify practical solutions on Swedish organic broiler farms. Eight of 12 available farms were visited once each, when average flock age was 55 ± 6 days. Farmer interviews were followed by avoidance distance tests, group behavioural observations, and assessment of use of environmental enrichment and free-range by the chickens. On average, almost half of all birds observed indoors were in a sitting posture. However, even when approaching slaughter age, the chickens were agile enough to perch and used some of the variety of items provided for perching, but the quantity of environmental enrichment equipment appeared to be insufficient. Free-range areas generally lacked sufficient vegetation cover or artificial shelters, and chickens were predominantly observed ranging near the house. Further research should explore feasible ways for farmers to make key improvements to the indoor and outdoor environment, in order to improve broiler welfare.

Modern poultry production entails a number of important animal welfare issues. However, welfare is often considered to be better in organic than in non-organic production, largely due to the focus on naturalness within the former which has been embedded within the EU regulations on organic production. The aim of this paper was to review the relevant scientific literature to assess (i) how animal welfare science relates to the key features of organic poultry production which originally stem from organic visions and ideological reasons, and (ii) whether there is scientific evidence to show that these key features, as stipulated in current EU regulations, contribute to higher welfare in organic poultry production. We identified seven key features that are intended to improve poultry welfare in organic production: appropriate breeds, no mutilations, outdoor access, natural light, perch space and raised sitting levels, provision of roughage, and lower stocking densities. In general, the animal welfare science available supports the potential for higher animal welfare in organic poultry production, based on the requirements as laid down in the current EU regulations. However, there is still room for improvement, and some aspects that may further improve animal welfare in organic poultry production include the use of alternative laying hen hybrids with the potential for better welfare, even more slow-growing broilers, appropriate management of the free-range areas in practice to ensure that they are used by the birds, additional raised sitting level space allowance for broilers, and the use of “dark brooders” for chicks.

Background: Poultry is a global industry with laying hens that are genetically optimized for high egg yield. Keel bone fractures can affect up to 80% of laying hens, posing welfare and production problems. Therefore, genetic selection to reduce keel fractures is important. However, the lack of a reliable, automated, and heritable phenotypes for keel bones makes this a challenging task. The aim of this study was to (1) develop automated analyses of radiographic images to phenotype keel bones, and (2) investigate whether the proposed phenotypes are heritable and genetically correlated with the post-dissection scores of keel bone fractures and deviations. A total of 1051 laying hens (Bovans Brown and Lohmann Brown) from a commercial farm were x-rayed, followed by keel bone dissection and scoring for deviations and fractures. Furthermore, blood was sampled for genotyping using 50 K Illumina SNP chips. Keel bones were segmented (with ~ 0.90 accuracy) from the radiographic images using deep learning models, after which the images were automatically measured for general geometry and radiopacity. Multi-trait genomic restricted maximum likelihood was used to estimate genetic parameters. Results: Heritability estimates ranged from 0.28 to 0.30 for both keel deviations and fractures observed post-dissection. The automated phenotypes had heritability estimates ranging from 0.07 to 0.10 for keel radiopacity and from 0.11 to 0.39 for keel geometry. Estimates of genetic correlations of keel geometry with keel deviation and fractures ranged from -0.57 to 0.72. Conclusions: Automated methods were developed for measuring keel bone radiopacity and geometry. Keel concave area was found to be a reliable and heritable phenotype that breeding companies can use to reduce keel deviations and fractures. These methods can also be adapted to measure other bones (e.g., tibiotarsal) or objects (e.g., eggs), allowing breeders to quickly compute phenotypes for keel, tibia, and egg size from the same radiographic image. The developed methods are well-suited for large-scale studies to assess different housing environments and nutrition strategies aimed at improving keel bone conditions.