Breeding birds for efficient cage-free production requires developing healthy hens that lay an egg every day for 100 weeks and possibly up to 200 weeks in the future, reported Sijne Van der Beek, PhD, chief technology officer, Lohmann Breeders, The Netherlands. “We demand more and more from the hen,” Van der Beek said. “The [cage-free] environment is challenging, and what we ask from the hen is challenging.” To help the layer industry manage the shift, genetics companies need to bring birds into a cage-free environment, collect data and select. They also need to find specific limiting traits.
Van der Beek discussed new cage-free data-collection methods in a presentation at the 2023 Poultry Science Association conference. Read more