Many birds from barn and free range flocks having sustained breaks or fractures by the end of their lifetime.

Eighteen million laying hens in the UK will need to be re-housed within the next four years as a result of a EU ruling banning conventional cage systems.
Because of greater rates of bone breakage in free-range systems this represents a serious welfare issue for the poultry and egg production industry.A £1.7M of research funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and industrial partner, Noble Foods, will help laying hens avoid bone damage by investigating the benefits of omega-3 supplements in their diets.
The grant will fund a three-year research project led by Dr John Tarlton of the University of Bristol’s Matrix Biology Research Group in the School of Clinical Veterinary Sciences.

Concern about the welfare of laying hens housed in non-cage systems was expressed in the 1990s, when the issue of broken bones within flocks was reported. Latest evidence suggests this is getting worse, with many birds from barn and free range flocks having sustained breaks or fractures by the end of their lifetime.
Fractures of the sternum (keel) are common, causing pain, preventing important behaviours and leading to an increase in infection rate. Chickens possess sensitive pain perception mechanisms and can suffer from chronic pain.

Constraints on movement due to fractures may last for many weeks, resulting in restricted access to food, water, and perches, compromising the welfare benefits of free-range systems.
The research group has identified a high incidence of broken bones in hens housed in free-range systems. However, preliminary studies suggest that by providing a diet supplemented with omega-3, found in fish and flax seed oils, breakages could be substantially reduced.
Dr Tarlton said: "The EU ruling represents an impending welfare crisis in which millions more laying hens may suffer bone breakage or fractures in the UK each year.
"Fractures vary in severity and often result in gross skeletal damage and even death in some birds. Other than the welfare issue, wastage and loss in production are a considerable financial burden to the industry, reducing economic viability and increasing costs. By feeding the hens on omega-3 we hope to substantially improve their welfare and reduce costs due to injury, with the bonus that the eggs produced are also better for us."

The UK produces nearly nine billions eggs per year, with additional imports of two billion eggs outweighing export of 221 million.There are presently 28.7 million laying hens in the UK, in 35,525 flocks, approximately two thirds housed in conventional cage systems. The UK retail market is worth £582M per annum (British Egg Information Service, 2006)
 

REGULAR EGGS ‘NO HARM TO HEALTH’

 Limiting egg consumption has little effect on cholesterol levels, research has confirmed.

 A University of Surrey team said their work suggested most people could eat as many eggs as they wanted without damaging their health. The researchers, who analysed several studies of egg nutrition, said the idea that eating more than three eggs a week was bad for you was still widespread. But they said that was a misconception based on out-of-date evidence.

 Writing in the British Nutrition Foundation's Nutrition Bulletin, they said eating saturated fats was far more likely to cause health problems.

 Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin said eggs were actually a key part of a healthy diet, as they were particularly packed full of nutrients.

 Ingrained misconception

 He said: "The ingrained misconception linking egg consumption to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected. "The amount of saturated fat in our diet exerts an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of dietary cholesterol.

 "The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat - indeed they can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of nature's most nutritionally dense foods." While elevated blood cholesterol levels increase the risk of heart disease, only around a third of the cholesterol in the body comes from the diet. Other factors such as smoking, being overweight and physical activity can influence blood fat and cholesterol levels and heart disease risk.

 The British Heart Foundation (BHF) dropped its advice to limit egg consumption to three a week in 2007 in light of new evidence.

 However, research by the British Egg Information Service suggests 45% of consumers still believe it was sensible to limit consumption. Victoria Taylor, a senior BHF dietician, said: "We recommend that eggs can be eaten as part of a balanced diet.

 "There is cholesterol present in eggs but this does not usually make a great contribution to your level of blood cholesterol.

 "If you need to reduce your cholesterol level it is more important that you cut down on the amount of saturated fat in your diet from foods like fatty meat, full fat dairy products and cakes, biscuits and pastries."

 Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7882850.stm

Published: 2009/02/11 07:50:02 GMT

Free-Range Chickens May Be Less Healthy

SWEDEN - A free-range label doesn't guarantee your poultry had a worry-free existence, according to Swedish researchers.

In an effort to eat compassionately, many people choose free-range chickens and eggs, assuming that the birds lived happy, high-quality lives before they became dinner

But researchers at the National Veterinary Institute in Uppsala, Sweden have discovered that, if farmers aren't extremely careful, bacterial infections like E. coli can run rampant through free-range chicken flocks.

The finding, which appears in BioMed Central's open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica raises questions about what's best for both animals and people, reports Australia's news agency,

The study began when scientists noticed a sudden spike in dead laying hens submitted for necropsies.

The researchers guessed the surge in deaths was linked to the way farmers were housing the birds.

In Sweden, a new law bans the use of small laying cages and instead requires that chickens live more naturally - with access to nests, perches, and piles of dust they can roll around in.

This type of living is called a litter-based system. In a free-range litter-based system, the birds are also allowed to go outside.

Most Swedish farmers made the switch from cages to litter-based housing between 2001 and 2004. Around the same time, the number of dead hens presented to the Institute increased.

To further investigate, veterinary pathologist Dr Oddvar Fossum and colleagues analysed the necropsies of 914 hens from 172 flocks.

The researchers found that as many as 10 times more hens were submitted from litter-based and free-range setups than from caged systems during those years.

Compared to caged birds, free-ranging hens had more bacterial infections (the most common cause of death), more parasites, and more viruses.

They were also more likely to become victims of violent pecking and cannibalistic attacks.

Flock size was part of the problem, Fossum says. Cages held a maximum of 10 birds, but free-range flocks sometimes contained as many as 35,000 chickens.

Even though these chickens had the freedom to wander outside and roll in the dirt, they were more likely to bump into each other, fight and share diseases.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence that free-range chickens are particularly prone to disease and violent behaviour, says veterinarian and poultry pathologist Dr Rob Porter, of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

It's hard to evaluate whether a chicken is or can be "happy," Porter adds. But other studies have failed to find a difference in stress hormone levels between chickens that are raised one way or the other.

"One of the largest attractions of free-range chickens is that it makes people happy to think about chickens outside pecking at the soil," says Porter.

"Although the perception of the general public is that these outdoor chickens must be healthier than others, time and time again this is shown not to be true."

Nutritionally, Porter adds, free-range eggs and meat are virtually identical to the same products from caged chickens.

Still, Fossum says, there are ways to keep a free-range flock healthy with a combination of breeding, vaccines, and behaviour control. Dimming the lights, for example, can calm a chicken down.

Sweden's experience, he says, offers lessons to chicken farmers elsewhere.
ThePoultrySite News Desk

DELIA SPEAKS OUT (Daily Mirror 16th February 2008)

Delia Smith has blasted Jamie Oliver's costly organic and free-range produce saying it is more important that poor families can get affordable nutritious food.

The cookery queen, 66, hit out at Jamie, who is paid £1.2million a year as the face of Sainsburys, and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall for their campaign to eat expensively reared chicken.

Delia, who has sold more than 19 million cook books to Jamie's six million, said: "I don't like the way battery chickens are treated but I am aware there is a lot of poverty in this country among children. I feel that is a disgrace and we have got to make sure everybody gets enough nutritious food in the first place."

She told Radio 4's Today programme: "If the whole world goes organic then the state of the third world will be twice as bad as it is now.

"And I am much more concerned with people getting enough to eat."

Delia, who has collaborated with Asda over a new range of products inspired by her recipes, said she was sceptical about "food miles".

She added: "I do love fresh shelled peas that you can buy in the winter from Kenya.

"I'm sorry about the planet and the problems of emissions, but I am also conscious that there are people in Kenya who are getting employment and enough money to bring up their children from that produce." Asked if she thought organic food was best, she added: "I don't do organic because I am a cook. I can't get into the politics of food. If I go into a shop and want to buy some beautiful fresh beetroot, I will buy whatever looks the best.

"And if that is organic I might buy it. If it isn't, I will buy that.

Delia's roasting of Jamie came as she launched her new book called How To Cheat At Cooking.

She said: "I just felt we needed a new way of cooking, not for every day but for busy days."

Asda head chef Neil Nugent said: "There's nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to cheating your way to success in the kitchen."

HENS KEPT IN BATTERY CAGES ARE NO MORE STRESSED THAN THEIR FREE-RANGE COUNTERPARTS

So says a report in the Daily Mail on the 15th July. Researchers at the Sydney University measured the amounts of a hormone produced when hens are frightened. Their findings call into question the common belief that hens which are allowed to roam free are happier.

Similar amounts of the hormone were found in the eggs of both kinds of birds. Scientists believe this is because free-range hens have to deal with extra pressures such as extremes of temperature, more parasites and the threat of predators.

A spokesman for the British Egg Information Service welcomed the findings saying the welfare of hens was of paramount importance however they were kept.