On July 31 last year, birds tested positive for avian influenza on a Golden Plains free range egg farm. Over the following four weeks, a further five farms in Golden Plains, East Gippsland and Gannawarra Shire tested positive. In total, three strains of avian influenza were found on six Victorian poultry farms, infecting three bird…
In Australia, meat chickens are not kept in cages and both male and female chicks are raised to produce meat. Most meat chickens are housed in large sheds – ‘barn raised’ – with some also having daytime access to the outdoors – ‘free range’ – once they are fully feathered. Traditionally, chickens have been raised…
Can a waste product deliver important improvements to chicken production? What if antibiotic use in poultry production could be significantly lowered by using waste products from milling? Dr Natalie Morgan is investigating these possibilities after winning the Australian Eggs Award in the 2021 Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.…
The access to open air and an outdoor lifestyle, which is a feature of free range chicken farming, may well be putting birds at a higher risk of an untimely death. Researchers have long understood that despite their more socially acceptable existence, free range chickens are exposed to more disease agents when compared to caged…
New research supported by AgriFutures Australia is optimising the use of an alternative control measure for the lesser mealworm based on live fungi. The lesser mealworm, also known as darkling beetle, is a common insect-pest to the chicken meat industry, due to the damage it can cause to the structure of chicken sheds through tunnelling…
In July 2020, Carolyn de Koning of the South Australian Research and Development Institute undertook a research project into the plants hens on free range farms prefer. The aim of the project was to consolidate available agronomic information and provide an up-to-date resource for free range egg farmers on what and how to plant on…
The global poultry feed market is projected to register a compound annual growth rate of 4.1 percent during the forecast period 2021-2026. The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions aiming to contain it, have led to the shutdown of poultry feed companies across the globe in the initial phase, which in turn resulted in the shortage of…
Not much can match the convenience and simplicity of buying a crispy freshly roasted chicken from the supermarket when you’re time-poor or simply not in the mood to cook. In response to a recent survey, 61 percent of respondents said they will buy a pre-cooked supermarket roast chicken as a lazy meal. And one in…
Veggie burgers aren’t new, but it’s only relatively recently that marketing of plant-based alternatives has shifted from targeting vegetarian consumers to targeting environmentally conscious meat eaters. Manufacturers of PBAs have not been shy in touting their products as disrupters and market leaders in terms of environmental impacts. The manufacturers of Quorn claim that it has…
About half of fresh shop-bought chicken tested positive for food poisoning bug campylobacter in a year-long study. Dr Ihab Habib from Murdoch University worked with the Department of Health of Western Australia to test bacteria levels in raw chicken sold in supermarkets around Perth. Dr Habib said this was the first survey of its kind…