ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND WELL-BEING SYMPOSIUM: Poultry welfare assessments: Current use and limitations.

Abstract

Recent attention has been given to developing welfare assessment tools for research purposes and for use directly on poultry farms. Historically, most of these tools have relied on resource- and management-based measures, but it is unclear how well they correlate with outcomes indicative of positive animal welfare. The subjective nature of many of these tools also makes it difficult to generalize across studies and farms without extensive training. More recently, the European Union Welfare Quality project set out to design assessment tools that were scientifically based and combined resource- and management-based measures with animal-based measures. Adding these measures was especially important for farm-level comparisons where farms may be utilizing different housing systems with inherent differences affecting the utility of resource- and management-based measures. The Welfare Quality Assessment protocol for poultry (WQA) offers researchers a tool that has been validated, tested for repeatability, and standardized across farms. This tool has been used in the United States and Canada at both the experimental and farm levels. The WQA is continuing to be developed, but many measures are still in need of validation and benchmarking as well as creating measures that can be used without needing extensive training to be successful on a go-forward basis. Tools must be designed for North American commercial production with a better understanding of the appropriate sample size, as well as their utility for use in alternative and extensive housing systems. The WQA shows promise in helping us to understand the influence of genetics, housing design, and management factors on the welfare of poultry.