Poultry farming
-
What is poultry farming?
Poultry farming involves raising birds like chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese domestically or commercially for meat, eggs, and feathers. Chickens are categorized into American, Mediterranean, English, and Asiatic breeds, with commercial facilities relying on a select few for industrial production. Modern broiler houses can hold up to 100,000 birds with automated feeding. Management practices include maintaining a controlled environment to avoid crowding and using cages to increase production and lower mortality. Modern methods of sanitation, the use of antibiotics and vaccines, and the use of cages have made it possible to effect satisfactory disease control.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Which animals are raised in poultry farming?
Poultry farming involves raising birds domestically or commercially for meat, eggs, and feathers. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese are of primary importance. Guinea fowl and squabs (young pigeons) are also raised, but are chiefly of local interest.
Selective breeding of chickens has produced over 100 varieties specialized for egg or meat production. Duck raising is common as a small-farm enterprise, with breeds like Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner known for laying many eggs. Geese are often raised for meat, eggs, and down feathers, with Toulouse and Embden being two popular breeds.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What products do people get from poultry farming?
Poultry farming yields various products, most notably meat and eggs from chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. Chicken meat production has surpassed egg production since the mid-20th century. Beyond these primary products, feathers are also harvested. Moreover, backs, necks, and bones from poultry processing can be mechanically deboned, resulting in a minced product utilized in items like frankfurters and bologna. Poultry serves as a source of protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How are poultry farms usually set up to care for the birds?
Poultry farms, the most industrialized type of animal production, use specialized facilities with automated feeding systems to care for birds. Modern broiler houses can hold up to 100,000 birds, which are raised on the ground with wood shavings or on wire mesh. Alternatively, broilers can be housed in metal cages with mechanized feeding and cleaning systems. Laying houses hold thousands of hens in cages designed to facilitate feeding, cleaning, and egg collection. These buildings are fully enclosed, insulated, and equipped with ventilation systems.
A controlled environment is maintained to avoid crowding, chilling, overheating, or frightening the birds. Cannibalism is controlled by debeaking and other management practices. Strict sanitary precautions, the use of antibiotics and vaccines, and the widespread use of cages and confinement rearing contribute to effective disease control.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are some common challenges faced in poultry farming?
Poultry farming faces several challenges, including disease susceptibility and animal welfare concerns. Common diseases include fowl typhoid, pullorum, and bird flu, requiring strict sanitation, antibiotics, and vaccines. Bird flu outbreaks have led to the culling of millions of birds. Modern intensive farming practices are criticized for animal cruelty, such as cramped conditions for hens and beak trimming to prevent pecking, which can cause starvation. Breeding for high production can harm the animals' health, leading to heart failure and lameness in meat chickens.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How do farmers keep poultry healthy and prevent diseases on poultry farms?
To maintain poultry health and prevent disease, farmers implement strict sanitary measures, utilize antibiotics and vaccines, and often use cages for layers and confinement rearing for broilers. Modern methods of sanitation, along with preventative measures and treatments, provide excellent control of parasitic diseases caused by roundworms, tapeworms, lice, and mites.
Commercial poultry feeding is a science that ensures maximum energy intake for growth. A balanced diet includes high-quality protein sources and essential minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, potassium, sulfur, manganese, iron, copper, cobalt, magnesium, and zinc. Vitamins A, C, D, E, and K, and all B vitamins are also required. Antibiotics are also used to stimulate appetite, control harmful bacteria, and prevent disease.
To prevent the spread of avian influenza, which can devastate poultry populations, farmers must maintain biosecurity measures. These include preventing contact with wild birds, controlling airborne dust, and properly sanitizing clothing, feed, and equipment. Vaccines are available to protect against Newcastle disease, a viral disease affecting birds, and are administered repeatedly for optimal protection.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Poultry farming, raising of birds domestically or commercially, primarily for meat and eggs but also for feathers. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese are of primary importance, while guinea fowl and squabs (young pigeons) are chiefly of local interest. This article treats the principles and practices of poultry farming. For a discussion of the food value and processing of poultry products, see egg and poultry processing.
Commercial production
Feeding
Commercial poultry feeding is a highly perfected science that ensures a maximum intake of energy for growth and fat production. High-quality and well-balanced protein sources produce a maximum amount of muscle, organ, skin, and feather growth. The essential minerals produce bones and eggs, with about 3 to 4 percent of the live bird being composed of minerals and 10 percent of the egg. Calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chlorine, potassium, sulfur, manganese, iron, copper, cobalt, magnesium, and zinc are all required. Vitamins A, C, D, E, and K and all of the B vitamins are also required. Antibiotics are widely used to stimulate appetite, control harmful bacteria, and prevent disease. For chickens, modern rations produce about 0.5 kg (1 pound) of broiler on about 0.9 kg (2 pounds) of feed and a dozen eggs from 2 kg (4.5 pounds) of feed.
Management
A carefully controlled environment that avoids crowding, chilling, overheating, or frightening is almost universal in poultry farming. Cannibalism, which expresses itself as toe picking, feather picking, and tail picking, is controlled by debeaking at one day of age and by other management practices. The feeding, watering, egg gathering, and cleaning operations are highly mechanized. Birds are usually housed in wire cages with two or three animals per cage, depending on the species and breed, and three or four tiers of cages superposed to save space. Cages for egg-laying birds have been found to increase production, lower mortality, reduce cannibalism, lower feeding requirements, reduce diseases and parasites, improve culling, and reduce both space and labour requirements.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
Poultry breeding is an outstanding example of the application of basic genetic principles of inbreeding and crossbreeding as well as of intensive mass selection to effect faster and cheaper gains in meat and maximum egg production for the egg-laying strains. Maximum use of heterosis, or hybrid vigour, through incrosses and crossbreeding has been made. Rapid and efficient weight gains and high-quality, plump, meaty carcasses have been achieved thereby.
Among the world’s agricultural industries, chicken breeding in the U.S. is one of the most advanced. Intensive nutritional research and application, highly improved breeding stock, intelligent management, and scientific disease control have gone into the effort to give a modern broiler (meat chicken) of uniformly high quality produced at ever-lower cost. A modern broiler chick can reach a 2.3-kg (5-pound) market weight in five weeks, compared with the four months that were required in the mid-20th century. Additionally, annual egg production per hen has increased from about 100 in 1910 to over 300 in the early 21st century.
Diseases
Poultry are quite susceptible to a number of diseases. Some of the more common are fowl typhoid, pullorum, fowl cholera, chronic respiratory disease, infectious sinusitis, infectious coryza, avian infectious hepatitis, infectious synovitis, bluecomb, Newcastle disease, fowl pox, avian leukosis complex, coccidiosis, blackhead, infectious laryngotracheitis, infectious bronchitis, and erysipelas. Strict sanitary precautions, the intelligent use of antibiotics and vaccines, and the widespread use of cages for layers and confinement rearing for broilers have made it possible to effect satisfactory disease control.
Outbreaks of bird flu, or avian influenza, which was first detected in humans in 1997, have led to the culling of millions of poultry animals since the late 20th century. Waterfowl such as wild ducks are thought to be primary hosts for all bird flu subtypes. Though normally resistant to the viruses, the birds carry them in their intestines and distribute them through feces into the environment, where they infect susceptible domestic birds. Sick birds pass the viruses to healthy birds through saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Within a single region, bird flu is transmitted readily from farm to farm by airborne feces-contaminated dust and soil, by contaminated clothing, feed, and equipment, or by wild animals carrying the virus on their bodies. The disease is spread from region to region by migratory birds and through international trade in live poultry. Humans who are in close contact with sick birds—for example, poultry farmers and slaughterhouse workers—are at the greatest risk of becoming infected.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
Parasitic diseases of poultry, including hexamitiasis of turkeys, are caused by roundworms, tapeworms, lice, and mites. Again, modern methods of sanitation, prevention, and treatment provide excellent control.