From 26 to 29 June 2023, the eleven European Symposium on Poultry Welfare took place in Prague (Czech Republic). Seven members of the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA participated and two members had an oral communication based on results arising from the Centre’s work.

EURCAW-Poultry-SFA members (from the left to the right: A.Contreras, F.Mocz, A.B.Riber, V.Michel, K.E.Wurtz., A.Velarde)

Session 4 – Bone quality, 27.06.23, proceeding p46

Effect of environmental enrichments on leg health and behaviour of fast-growing broiler chick-ens reared at two different stocking densities.

Frédérique Mocz, Virginie Michel, Mathilde Janvrot, Jean-Philippe Moysan, Alassane Keita, Anja B. Riber, Maryse Guinebretière

Keywords: broiler, enrichment, footpad dermatitis, hock burn, stocking density

F. Mocz

Session 8 – Open session, 28.06.23, proceeding p81

Alternative gas mixtures to carbon dioxide in two phases in broiler chickens.

Alexandra Contreras-Jodar, Daniel Santiago Rucinque, Troy John Gibson, Virginie Michel, Antonio Velarde

Keywords: broiler chickens, gas stunning, slaughter, aversion, welfare

A. Contreras

More information is available on the event website: https://www.espw2023.org/

On 20 June, the 3 EURCAWs hosted the Common EURCAW meeting for the National Reference Centres (NRCs) & Supporting Bodies (SBs).

At the start of the meeting, the EURCAWs presented highlights of their current activities. The next session introduced two relatively new NRCs for Animal Welfare – Spain (established in March 2023) and Slovenia (established in January 2022).  The National Centre Group for Animal Welfare (NCGAW) then led an interactive session. The NCGAW currently comprises six NRCs for Animal Welfare: France (coordinator), Finland, Greece, Italy, Sweden, and Spain. The final session of the meeting considered, ‘Ways to Collaborate’ where the EURCAWs presented priority topics that they would welcome collaboration from the NRCs and SBs.

In total 42 participants from 15 Member States participated, including 14 members from the three EURCAWs.

The report is available here. 

The slides from this meeting are available here. 

The first physical Centre management meeting of the year was held in Denmark in Vejle from 12 to 14 April 2023. Thirteen members of the Centre met in order to prepare the third 3 EURCAWs-NRCs/SBs meeting, the fourth CAs meeting (save the date: online meeting, 2*0.5 days during the last week of October 2023) and work together on the 2023 various tasks.

Organized by EURCAW-Poultry-SFA.

The webinar was held via Teams.

Target audience: Official inspectors from the Competent Authorities of the EU MSs

Attendance through invitation only.

The PDF of the presentation is available here.

The webinar recording is available here. 

Description:

Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing requires assessing the state of consciousness of the animals in order to identify whether the stunning and killing have been properly performed.

This webinar aims to guide the official veterinarian on what behavioural indicators should be assessed in broiler chickens during the stunning procedure by means of carbon dioxide in two phases and mixtures of carbon dioxide associated to inert gases. It pretends to elucidate what behaviours are related to aversion to gas, what are the indicators of loss of consciousness and death as well as to differentiate behaviours that broiler chickens may perform when unconscious and thus, behaviours that are not a welfare issue. It will also offer the opportunity for discussion and doubts resolution.

The aim of the webinar was to:

• Review the main welfare aspects of stunning broiler chickens by exposure to controlled atmosphere
• Discuss the main results of the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA study on the assessment of welfare during the exposure to alternative mixtures to carbon dioxide in two phases in broiler chickens, evaluated in experimental conditions.
• Recommend ABIs and their methods of assessment (where and how to do the assessment, during how much time, how to do the sampling), providing video examples.

The webinar was attended by 86 people (102 registered), from 20 EU Member States:

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden.

Schedule:

10:00-10:10: Introduction EURCAW – A. Velarde

10:10-10:18: Review Stunning of broiler chickens by Controlled Atmosphere Stunning – A. Contreras

10:18-10:38: Technical study Controlled Atmosphere Stunning – S. Rucinque

10:38-10:50: Recommendations – A. Varvaró

10:50-11:00: Sampling – V. Michel

11:00-11:10: Virtual coffee break

11:10-12:00: Discussion

This webinar has been organized within the sub-activity 4.2: Development of course material for specific topics, of the working program 2023-2024.

On 3 May 2023, in Brussels, will take place a high-level conference presenting the results of a two-year European Parliament pilot project on Best practices for transitioning to higher welfare cage-free egg production systems. This pilot project is particularly relevant in the context of the Commission's commitment, in response to the European Citizen's Initiative End the Cage Age' to propose legislation to phase-out the use of cages for laying hens (and other species). The project aimed to help EU producers to convert conventional egg production systems to higher-welfare alternative systems and to guarantee them that they stay in business by providing practical guidance and recommendations on economic aspects. The findings of this project will also be used by the Commission in the current revision of the animal welfare legislation.

To participate in the conference, you need to register by 18 April.  The conference will be web streamed.

Click here to get access to the website where the agenda and registration link are available

If you have any questions, please get in touch with  info@bestpracticehens.eu.