Straw bedding in the covered veranda can contribute to successful housing of laying hens in mobile houses

– by Saskia Kliphuis (UU)

Koen Riep and Jeroen Imholz are two veterinary MSc students at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Supervised by Saskia Kliphuis, they are investigating the effects of extra litter material in the covered veranda on plumage condition, foot pad lesions and fearfulness in laying hens housed in mobile houses. The research was established in collaboration with Herenboeren, a farmer’s coop in the Netherlands. They collected data on four different Herenboeren locations, where they added straw to the outdoor range and investigated the effects on the hens on three different time points. The first results are in, and the straw bedding resulted in an improvement of plumage condition, especially at farm where the plumage score at baseline was relatively low. These pictures give an impression of their practical work!

© Photos UU