Iceberg indicators of welfare in poultry
The European Commission designated the IRTA, together with other European centers, as a Reference Center for the welfare of poultry and other small farm animals of the European Union (EURCAW-Poultry-small animals) in 2020. The aim is to provide technical support and coordinated assistance to EU countries in carrying out official controls in the field of animal welfare, and to contribute to the dissemination of good practices. It does this by providing technical and scientific experience, as well as conducting studies and developing methods to improve and evaluate animal welfare. To guarantee the transfer of knowledge and innovative strategies, in addition to offering training to the European Competent Authorities.
Recently the EURCAW-Poultry-small animals has published some technical sheets on iceberg indicators that can serve as a guide to assess in the slaughterhouse the level of welfare that broilers and laying hens have had on the farm and briefly describes evaluation methods. These indicators are not related to a specific problem, but allow us to get a quick idea of possible well-being problems, just as the tip of an iceberg alerts us to everything that is submerged.
You can consult them here:
- Indicators in the slaughterhouse to determine the welfare of broilers on the farm.
- Evaluation of foot injuries at slaughter in laying hens.
Soon the Center plans to produce a best practice guide on the automatic assessment of animal welfare indicators in chicken slaughterhouses. If you want to follow the news, you can sign up for the newsletter.
Here are some examples of these indicators, in the technical sheets criteria are given to standardize their assessment:
Broilers:
- Total mortality
- Condemnation rate
- Presence of wounds or bruises
- Pododermatitis
Laying hens:
- Pododermatitis
- Finger lesions
Post written by Aranzazu Varvaró Porter, research support technician at IRTA's Animal Welfare Program.
Criteria for assessing the presence of wounds or bruises in broiler carcasses are given in the technical fact sheets.
Scoring of pododermatitis lesions in broilers.
Scoring of foot lesions in laying hens.
Example of pododermatitis (bumble foot) in a layer, indicator of lack of well-being.
