Preserve animal physical integrity

WP4 focusses on the challenge of keeping laying hens and fattening pigs in organic and low-input systems without applying routine mutilations, such as beak trimming in laying hens and castration in pigs. Incubation and rearing strategies in laying hens were tested, with the goal to obtain more resilient birds and minimize feather pecking and cannibalism. In collaboration with small-scale farmers, it was optimized the design for the outdoor area or covered veranda for laying hens, to maximise the use of the outdoor area for behaviours such as foraging and dust bathing. With the farmers, it was also investigated whether layer hybrids or dual-purpose chickens would thrive better in low-input outdoor and organic farming systems, especially in mobile houses. Strategies will also be elaborated to prevent undesired behaviours in intact male pigs (mounting, aggression) and to avoid boar-taint in the meat.