Key health and welfare indicators for broiler production

The purpose of the research was to identify measurable indicators, which can firstly provide objective measures of bird welfare and secondly act as "lead" rather than "lag" indicators. Broiler welfare has historically been measured using lag indicators such as final mortality, stocking density, levels of contact dermatitis, reject levels and leg health. Although there are benefits to their use as indicators, the main disadvantage of these measures is that whilst they provide data for inter-organisational and inter-growing cycle analysis the welfare issues have already occurred for the birds concerned and the information can only effect change in future production cycles. Alternatively, lead indicators are intra-cycle indicators which will provide information on bird welfare so that preventive/corrective action can be taken within the growing cycle. These indicators include feed and water consumption, air and litter quality and daily weight gain. It has been established that water is a vital nutrient that should be routinely analysed to ensure that it complies with accepted quality standards so that bird health and welfare is optimised. Furthermore water consumption, (both daily and per cycle) is a key indicator of bird welfare and worthy of further quantitative study to determine if it can be used as a headline "lead" indicator to determine health and welfare issues early in the growing cycle so that appropriate management action can be taken.