Growing demand for organic eggs from hens with better welfare

If the chicken had a say, what would poultry farms look like? At Herenboeren, chickens are kept in small groups in mobile enclosures with outdoor access. But even in an environment like this, there is still a risk of injury from feather pecking and damage to foot pads. Can this be prevented by using straw, an operational adjustment that poultry farmers can implement without much effort? This is what VetMed Master’s students Koen Riep and Jeroen Imholz are currently investigating.

Student Koen Riep became interested in chicken welfare during his internship at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature. When looking for a suitable research topic for his Master's thesis, he quickly came upon an interesting option. He immediately called good friend and fellow student Jeroen Imholz, who he began his studies with many years ago. Riep: "Jeroen and I started our studies together. During our Master’s, we got to do all our placements together: from the Tolakker week to surgery. We shared all those experiences."

Enthusiastically, he continues: "When this research opportunity came along, I immediately called Jeroen to see if he would like to complete the final chapter of our studies with me." For Jeroen, too, the choice was quickly made. "Koen and I were always quite similar in our studies, by chance we always ended up together. He called me to see if I thought it would be fun to do research involving chickens. I thought it would be great to start and finish my Vetmed degree with my peer, friend and future colleague!"

In everything we do, we want to take the best possible care of the Earth and animals

Research into chicken welfare

Together with PhD student Saskia Kliphuis, Koen and Jeroen started discussions with Herenboeren, where the research may take place. Herenboeren is a network of 22 nature-inclusive cooperative farms, where they tailor production to the nutritional needs of more than nine thousand members. Kliphuis explains why the demand for research within these new, smaller forms of housing is increasing. "The demand for organic eggs from hens with better welfare is growing. Based on that demand, small-scale concepts have emerged that pay greater attention to the welfare of chickens. Unfortunately, though, feather pecking still occurs in almost all systems. That makes this an interesting area of research. Science can help with the development of these kinds of systems."

Collaborate with the industry

Koen and Jeroen's research is part of the EU project PPILOW (Poultry and Pig in Low-input and Organic production systems' Welfare). A key aspect of PPILOW is that researchers collaborate with the industry to come up with concrete solutions to real-world challenges. Kliphuis: "One of the Herenboeren farms approached us to help them work out how they could design their runs to better suit the needs of the chickens. This aligned perfectly with the objectives of the PPILOW project, which is how the ball got rolling. And the current research with Herenboeren in different locations grew from this."

Taking good care of the Earth and animals

Marjon Wijdeven, Quality, Health & Safety and Environment Coordinator and supervisor of the animals expert team at Herenboeren Nederland, explains the role humane animal husbandry plays within Herenboeren. "In everything we do, we want to take the best possible care of the Earth and animals. We want to properly justify why we do or don’t do something: If there’s added value in, for example, environmental factors, pen enrichment or feed, we want to recognise that and implement it at other sites. Everything we learn, we try to apply when we launch new Herenboeren farms. In addition, our Animals expert group is actively working to improve animal welfare at all sites – we are sharing Koen and Jeroen's findings with this group so that they can further disseminate this new knowledge to the other Herenboeren farms."

The results showed that straw had a positive effect on the chickens' plumage

Together with Herenboeren, they defined the parameters of the research and determined the research question: The provision of straw should improve chickens’ welfare by encouraging their natural behaviour. Koen investigated whether straw had an effect on the chickens' plumage, while Jeroen looked at damage to their foot pads. They conducted the research at four different locations: Rotterdam, Leimuiden, Breda and Boxtel. They did a baseline measurement, put down straw and observed at two points whether the chickens' plumage and skin improved.

Hard work at times

The results showed that adding straw had a positive effect on the chickens' plumage, and they also saw less skin damage. In terms of damage to the chickens’ foot pads, the addition of straw resulted in no visible improvement or worsening. The soles of the chickens' feet were in good condition before the research. For all four sites, this improvement of the run was an easy and effective intervention to improve chicken welfare. The Master's students look back positively on the last few months. Koen: "It was hard work at times, but I couldn't have imagined a better outcome!"

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