Ahead to APPENDIX A - MEMBERSHIP OF THE FARM ANIMAL WELFARE COUNCIL |
1. It is essential that sufficient, well motivated and competent personnel are employed to carry out effectively all the necessary tasks throughout the year. Staff should be adequately managed and supervised, fully conversant with the tasks they will be required to undertake and competent in the use of any equipment needed to carry out these tasks (paragraph 23).
2. Staff, including those employed by contractors, must be given appropriate training, not only on-farm from an experienced and competent poultryman, but also from a recognised training provider (either in-house or externally). They must demonstrate competence and understanding before they are given daily responsibility for the birds (paragraph 24).
3. Training providers should take steps to ensure that standards and contents of formal training programmes are reviewed frequently and independently assessed (paragraph 25).
4. A systematic inspection of all flocks must be undertaken at least twice each day at appropriate intervals. In order to ensure thoroughness, the stockperson should walk within about 3 metres of every bird and encourage it to move (paragraph 31).
5. Light levels during inspection must be sufficient to ensure that all birds are clearly visible (paragraph 32).
6. When houses are emptied and cleaned, old litter should be removed from the site so as to reduce the carry over of disease (paragraph 36).
7. At times of extremely high temperature, management should adopt techniques which minimise the risk of poor welfare (paragraph 43).
8. When ambient temperatures rise above the birds' 'comfort zone', as indicated by periods of continuous panting, immediate, effective action must be taken (paragraph 44).
9. Minimum ventilation rates should be sufficient to ensure air quality meets the birds' needs for oxygen, and controls ammonia, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and dust to levels that are not harmful (paragraph 45).
10. Those keeping broiler breeders should apply the advice given in the MAFF publication Heat Stress in Poultry - Solving the Problem (PB 1315) (paragraph 46).
11. After the first few days of life, there should be a set period of at least 6 continuous hours of darkness in any one 24-hour period (paragraph 50).
12. Those keeping broiler breeders must ensure the birds have access to litter that is in good, friable condition and apply the advice given in the MAFF publication Poultry Litter Management (PB 1739) (paragraph 56).
13. During the first 6 weeks of life feed levels should be adequate to ensure good skeletal development. The level of feed intake throughout rear should be managed to achieve a steady growth, not less than 7% week-on-week, and the appropriate weight and condition at point-of-lay (paragraph 62).
14. Once the selection procedures are complete, weekly recording of weight gain must be used to check that these birds achieve a steady, progressive week-on-week increase in bodyweight growth (paragraph 69).
15. Water should be available throughout the period of lighting and adequate drinkers should be provided to ensure all birds can drink without undue competition (paragraph 75).
16. Stocking density for broiler breeders should not exceed 25kg/mē, calculated by dividing the total weight of the birds in the house by total area available to the birds. The calculation should be on the basis of all stock within the house, including males (paragraph 78).
17. The internal floor area available to the birds should be clearly and permanently displayed at the entrance to each house (paragraph 79).
18. Accurate records should be kept which incorporate the information outlined in paragraph 83 and should be readily accessible and available for inspection by veterinary staff and enforcement authorities (paragraph 84).
19. Where mutilations are deemed necessary, they must be carried out in accordance with the law and by trained, competent staff (paragraph 87).
20. Beak trimming is a most undesirable mutilation which should be avoided, if at all possible, and used only if veterinary advice is that the procedure is essential to prevent worse welfare problems of injurious feather pecking and cannibalism. It is unnecessary to beak trim female broiler breeder chicks (paragraph 91).
21. If beak trimming of male chicks is deemed essential, it should be carried out in the first 10 days of life, ideally at 5-10 days, and only the tip of the beak should be removed (paragraph 93).
22. The dubbing of broiler breeders should be discontinued. The primary breeding companies should be encouraged to educate their customers that this practice is not necessary (paragraph 98).
23. Toe removal for purposes of identification must be discontinued within one year (paragraph 107).
24. Each flock should have a written health and welfare programme produced, where necessary, with expert advice. This should set out health and husbandry activities covering the whole of the production cycle. The programme should be reviewed and updated annually by the farm manager and should be available for inspection by enforcement authorities (paragraph 114).
25. Infectious diseases should be controlled by good management and attention to detail including the keeping of daily records of feed and water consumption (paragraph 115).
26. Immediate veterinary attention should be sought at an early stage in any outbreak of disease so that the cause can be determined and appropriate action taken (paragraph 116).
27. Diseases caused by external parasites should be controlled by appropriate parasiticides (paragraph 117).
28. If a hospital pen is set up it should be within the main house and used to segregate sick birds or sexing errors and these birds should be examined frequently throughout the day (paragraph 119).
29. The catching and handling of birds must be carried out only by suitably trained and competent personnel. Additionally, the operation must be properly supervised by a person nominated to be responsible for the movement of the birds (paragraph 128).
30. All lifting, loading and unloading of birds must be in accordance with the requirements of the Welfare of Transport (Animals) Order 1997. Care should be taken to avoid distress to the birds. Birds should always be caught and carried by both legs and the amount of time they are inverted should be kept to a minimum. No more than two birds must be carried in one hand (paragraph 129).
31. Account should be taken of extreme weather conditions and the number of birds loaded should be adjusted accordingly (paragraph 130).
32. The use of any mechanical equipment for the loading of birds onto vehicles should be supported by an effective servicing and back-up system (paragraph 131).
33. Adequate provision should be made in the event of lorry break-down by ensuring back-up lorries are available (paragraph 133).
34. All vehicles should be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected after each journey (paragraph 134).
35. The industry should take steps to ensure training is validated (paragraph 26).
36. Guidance on hygiene and disinfection, based on paragraph 34, should be incorporated in the proposed welfare code (paragraph 35).
37. The proposed welfare code should incorporate information about minimum light intensities and photo-periods. Suggested figures are:
up to 10 days - minimum of 60 lux at day old, reducing to 10 lux and an uninterrupted minimum of 8 hours by 10 days of age.
up to point-of-lay - minimum of 10 lux. Uninterrupted daylength minimum of 8 hours.
laying - minimum of 20 lux. Uninterrupted daylength increasing from 8 hours to a maximum of 18 hours.
All the above should be measured at bird eye height. If aggression occurs, the lights should be dimmed for a few days (paragraph 49).
38. Environmental enrichment, such as the provision of perches and the scattering of grit on the litter, should be available in rearing houses (paragraph 53).
39. The primary breeding companies should identify the best means of minimising the number of elite birds subject to detailed selection performance testing. Ideally, consideration should be given to reviewing the need for the process. Also, the breeding companies should assess and minimise the stress during the period of feed restriction whilst the birds are returned to fitness before the laying period (paragraph 68).
40. Water meters must be fitted to each house to enable daily monitoring of water usage and pressure (paragraph 76).
41. Routine despurring should not be necessary. The government should press all breeding companies to pursue development of genotypes with short, blunt spurs and so remove the need for despurring (paragraph 101).
42. The practice of removing of the pivot claw should be phased out within three years (paragraph 104).
43. The industry should adopt management strategies which avoid the need to remove the dew claws of male birds. If the operation is considered necessary, it must be carried out only in the first 24 hours of life unless undertaken by a veterinary surgeon (paragraph 105).
44. We urge the Government to take action to ensure that the welfare of the UK flock is not disadvantaged by formalities which inhibit the availability of effective medicines (paragraph 121).
45. Government should pursue with its EU counterparts improved harmonisation of registration procedures to ensure uniformity and increase the range of medicines available (paragraph 122).
46. Studies should be undertaken to ascertain the materials and means which most effectively enrich the environment for broiler breeders (paragraph 54).
47. It is necessary to establish, as a matter of urgency, the point at which feed restriction creates a situation when the bird cannot cope with the hunger which results (paragraph 63).
48. Research should be carried out to explore further the potential for alternative feeding strategies and management practices to alleviate hunger (paragraph 64).
49. The objectives of the breeding companies in the future development of strains of broilers should include welfare improvement, in particular the avoidance of problems of prolonged hunger in broiler breeders (paragraph 82).
50. The prevention of injurious feather pecking and cannibalism is a most important topic for research. The government, the poultry industry and research scientists must work together to find a solution which does not entail beak trimming (paragraph 92).