PPILOW seminar: Early poultry management

To transfer the knowledge gained and solutions found within the EU PPILOW project, a seminar will be organized to present the results of early life strategies and management in laying hens and slow-growing broilers in order to improve animal health, welfare and resilience. The PPILOW project, which stands for Poultry and PIg Low-input and Organic production systems' Welfare, aims to co-construct, through a multi-actor approach, solutions to improve the welfare of poultry and pigs reared in organic and low-input outdoor production systems. The project targets nonconventional and outdoor rearing systems with reduced (notably drug) inputs and organic systems (as defined by the EU, therefore in the context of defined rearing conditions, organic and local feed use, and preventative approaches to health management with limited use of chemical inputs).

One of the aims was to develop solutions that favour adaptation to organic and free-range systems for laying hens and slow-growing broilers. The overall goal was to increase the health and robustness of poultry, decrease mortality, and improve animal welfare in these systems, in interaction with their genetic background. Results of the studies performed will be presented during the seminar and will include, among others, presentations on green light and thermal manipulation during incubation, on-farm hatching, early life strategies, and free-range enrichment. The moderator during this interesting day is Prof. Dr. Bas Rodenburg from the UU, the Netherlands. The seminar will be organized in-person at the Wageningen University and Research Campus, the Netherlands, on Tuesday May 21 from 1:00 to 5:30 pm. You may register via the link in the flyer.