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

This chapter describes the effects housing systems on the behaviour and welfare of hens kept for egg production and for broilers kept for chicken meat production. Welfare problems in breeding hens, in the rearing of young chickens and in rearing turkeys, ducks and geese are also discussed.

This chapter discusses the space use and stocking density; importance of activity for broiler welfare; environmental enrichment to increase broiler activity; strategies to reduce fearfulness; broilers and range use; and hunger in broiler chickens. Hunger in broiler breeders; aggression and fatigue...

The welfare of pigs during transport depends on many interacting factors, such as the condition of the animal, temperature, loading density, time in transit and other factors. Death losses during transport of pigs can vary from a low of 0.06% under good conditions to a high of 6.8% under very hot...

By the late 1960s, poultry production had developed from a small-scale rural enterprise to an economically important branch of agriculture. Flock sizes increased and production systems, for hygienic and economic reasons, became more intensive. Rearing and housing of laying hens took place in...

In this chapter variations in the environments which can cause mastitis such as bedding types (straw, sawdust, and shaving, sand, ash, shredded paper, mats and mattresses, bedding amounts, cubicle sanitizers, and space allowances), ventilation, cubicle (free-stall) systems (size, division height,...

A simulation model that predicts the performance of a population of growing pigs when raised under given dietary, physical and social environmental conditions has been constructed. The aim was to investigate through the model the impact of between-animal variation on the response of a population to ...