Stocking density, the amount of space available per animal, greatly affects the welfare of commercial turkeys. For example, stocking density has been found to affect behavior such as injurious pecking; production, such as growth rates and feed efficiency; and health-related aspects, such as leg health and the incidence of airsacculitis. Current industry guidelines and standards for turkey space requirements and stocking densities vary, and they are different from those that have been examined scientifically. Scientific research into stocking density effects on turkey behavior, welfare, and productivity have been conducted in experimental settings with flock sizes that are much different from those in the commercial turkey industry. There is currently little information available regarding how much space turkeys require for particular behavioral activities. This paper reviews the current industry guidelines and standards as well as scientific literature pertaining to stocking densities for commercial turkeys.

Meat consumption and public concern for farm animal welfare are increasing, despite limited public understanding of agriculture and animal welfare. Turkey is important in U.S. holiday meal traditions and turkey meat is a frequently consumed processed product (i.e., lunchmeat). However, little is known about public perceptions and knowledge of commercial turkeys. An online survey was administered to 1,695 respondents in November 2018 to examine U.S. (1) demographic factors affecting meat consumption, selection of labeled meat products, and concern for animal welfare, (2) public knowledge of turkeys, and (3) concerns regarding the welfare of turkeys and other species. A total of 95% of respondents consumed meat and 10% hunted for some of the meat they consumed. Meat consumption frequency depended on region of residence, income level, gender, age, and whether respondents hunted. Of the meat consumers, 86% purchased turkey products. More meat consumers looked for the USDA organic label (39%) and the Non Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) project label (38%) than animal-welfare food labels (14%) when buying meat products. More pet owners (39%) than non-pet owners (25%) looked for animal welfare food labels. Being a pet owner increased the probability of being concerned about farm animal welfare. Concern for the commercial turkey was similar to concern for other farm animal species; self-reported knowledge of turkey production was low (mean score 2.64; scale of 1 to 7, 7 = highest). Turkey welfare concerns (mean score; rank from 1 to 5; 5 = least concerning) included poor nutrition (2.471) and illness (2.508), followed by housing (2.732), hot or cold weather (3.308) and transportation (3.981). Turkey welfare attributes that respondents cared the most about (mean score; scale of 1–5, 5 = cared the least) included space to move around (2.366), followed by veterinary health and wellness (2.680), ability to perform natural behavior (2.812), no feather loss or visible injuries (3.304), and decreased aggression (3.837). Demographic factors are important determinants of meat consumption and animal welfare concern. Public knowledge of turkey production is limited, despite a large percentage of the population purchasing turkey products.

Injurious behaviors (i.e., aggressive pecking, feather pecking, and cannibalism) in laying hens are a critical issue facing the egg industry due to increased social stress and related health and welfare issues as well as economic losses. In humans, stress-induced dysbiosis increases gut permeability, releasing various neuroactive factors, causing neuroinflammation and related neuropsychiatric disorders via the microbiota–gut–brain axis, and consequently increasing the frequency and intensity of aggression and violent behaviors. Restoration of the imbalanced gut microbial composition has become a novel treatment strategy for mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, impulsivity, and compulsivity. A similar function of modulating gut microbial composition following stress challenge may be present in egg-laying chickens. The avian cecum, as a multi-purpose organ, has the greatest bacterial biodiversity (bacterial diversity, richness, and species composition) along the gastrointestinal tract, with vitally important functions in maintaining physiological and behavioral homeostasis, especially during the periods of stress. To identify the effects of the gut microbiome on injurious behaviors in egg-laying chickens, we have designed and tested the effects of transferring cecal contents from two divergently selected inbred chicken lines on social stress and stress-related injurious behaviors in recipient chicks of a commercial layer strain. This article reports the outcomes from a multi-year study on the modification of gut microbiota composition to reduce injurious behaviors in egg-laying chickens. An important discovery of this corpus of experiments is that injurious behaviors in chickens can be reduced or inhibited through modifying the gut microbiota composition and brain serotonergic activities via the gut–brain axis, without donor-recipient genetic effects.

This study investigated age-related changes in turkey welfare measures (wounds, feather quality (FQ), feather cleanliness, and footpad condition (FCON)) and walking ability (gait) as influenced by different types of environmental enrichment (EE). Tom turkeys (n = 420) were randomly assigned to: straw bale (S), platform (P), platform + straw bale (PS), pecking block (B), tunnel (T) or control (C; no enrichment) group. Welfare measures and gait were assessed at 8, 12, 16 and 19 wk and analyzed using PROC LOGISTIC with Firth bias-correction. Better wing FQ with age was observed in turkeys in S and T groups. Turkeys in the S group had better wing FQ at 16 (P = 0.028) and 19 wk (P = 0.011) vs. 8 wk. Wing FQ (P = 0.008) was better at 19 vs. 8 wk for T turkeys. FCON worsened over time for turkeys in all treatment groups except for the S group. FCON was worse at 19 vs.8 wk for P (P = 0.024), PS (P = 0.039), B (P = 0.011), T (P = 0.004) and C (P = 0.014) turkeys and was worse at 19 vs. 12 wk for B (P = 0.038), T (P = 0.015) and C (P = 0.045) turkeys. FCON was worse at 19 vs. 16 wk for T (P = 0.007) and C (P = 0.048) turkeys. FCON was also worse at 16 vs. 8 wk for B (P = 0.046) turkeys. Gait worsened with increasing age in all treatment groups. Gait was worse at 19 wk for S (P < 0.001), P (P < 0.001), PS (P < 0.001) and B turkeys (P < 0.001) vs. earlier ages, while gait in T (P < 0.001) and C turkeys (P < 0.001) worsened starting at 16 wk.

The poultry industry is crucial to the global economy and food security. The growing world population has led to a concomitant increase in demand for poultry products, with global demand for poultry meat and eggs projected to increase to 181 and 102 million metric tons by 2050, respectively, from 82 (meat) and 62 (eggs) tons in 2005 ( Smith et al., 2015). Meeting this demand requires intensive, large-scale poultry production, characterized by significant environmental footprints and growing public concern over the welfare of farmed animals.