In this chapter, the major breeding goals for each of the poultry products (eggs and meat) are discussed. An outline on how the breeding and selection methods have been developed appropriately on chicken meat (broiler) and chicken egg sectors was also presented.

This chapter presents some of the previous methods and technology used to study animal behaviour as early as 1990 and discussed some of the current techniques and equipment being used by those studying the behavior of domestic as well as wild animals. Lastly the author gives some insights on what...

This chapter presents studies investigating the history and principles with regards to feelings in well being in animals and emphasized that proper understanding of the states of suffering and states of pleasure in animals that will help us to design optimum environments for animals as well as...

Severe feather pecking in laying hens is a significant welfare problem, causing pain, increased susceptibility to infection and an increased risk of premature death. Severe feather pecking is strongly related to absent, inadequate or insufficient foraging opportunities or to dietary deficiencies....

Survival of commercial laying hens is an important trait. Feather pecking has a large effect on the survival of birds. To improve survival it is important to use quantitative genetic methods that take into account both the direct genetic effect (victim effect) and the indirect genetic effect (actor ...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has estimated that 87% of transported poultry is broiler chickens. Broiler death losses during transport average 0.2% but can vary greatly. In layers, poor feather cover is associated with more mortalities, and in broilers, poor...

This chapter discussed the five components in poultry diet namely: energy, protein, minerals, vitamins and water. Highlights focused on the effect of nutrient shortage or imbalance in relation to other nutrients on the performance of the animals particularly on production of eggs and meat.

This chapter highlghts the formulation of feeds for organic laying hens, meat producing broilers, turkeys,ducks, geese, quails, ostriches, and emus.

This chapter discusses the common background of broilers and layer chickens; conflicting breeding goals for meat and egg production; genetic improvements and side effects in broiler chickens; welfare of broiler breeders; genetic improvements and side effect in laying hens; development and...

This chapter discusses the regulatory, behavioural, housing and welfare aspects of chickens and pigs in intensive production systems.