Poultry Farming

I

INTRODUCTION

Greylag Goose

A common species of goose, the greylag is the parent species from which many breeds of domesticated geese descend. The greylag goose is found throughout Europe and Asia.

Sunset/Animals Animals

Poultry Farming, commercial raising of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese for their meat and eggs. Since the 1930s and 1940s, the poultry industry has become one of the most efficient producers of protein for human consumption. It expanded rapidly during World War II because of the shortage of beef and pork, which require a much longer time to develop; only seven weeks are required to produce a broiler and five months to produce a laying hen. More recently, in response to public concern over dietary fat, poultry has again become a popular substitute for beef and pork. As a result of modern technological development, many poultry houses now provide excellent environmental control, and the management and marketing of the birds are finely regulated.

II

CHICKENS

For hundreds of years, chickens were kept in small flocks for home consumption of eggs and meat, with any surplus sold or exchanged for other produce. Not until the 20th century did poultry farming become commercialized. The production of eggs came first; for years the production of broilers was merely an offshoot, the male chickens being raised until about 10 to 16 weeks old and then sold for meat.

A modern poultry farm may have several hundred thousand or even more than a million laying hens. The United States poultry industry comprises about 340 million such hens, but with modern production techniques the same number of hens are supplying the nation with more eggs than did a larger hen population some years ago. A dozen eggs can be produced with less than 1.8 kg (less than 4 lb) of feed. Whereas egg-producing hens once produced about 100 eggs each year, such hens can now produce up to 280 eggs each year.

Advances in the broiler industry have been even more spectacular. The industry started on a commercial scale on the Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) Peninsula and then spread farther south and southwest. By the beginning of the 21st century the industry was producing approximately 8.6 billion broilers a year, most of them in the southern United States, with an efficiency such that one unit weight of broiler was being produced with fewer than two unit weights of feed. Nearly all broilers are now the offspring of white Plymouth Rock females and dominant white Cornish males.

Today more than 85 percent of the laying hens in the United States are housed in wire cages containing from two to ten hens each. The cages may be in a single tier or in tiers of up to five cages. Most of these are automated to provide a constant supply of feed and water and to maintain control of the environment. With temperatures remaining at near-ideal conditions, the birds never suffer frozen feet, combs, or wattles. Mortality is consistently lower than in the times when hens were mainly housed on a litter floor, where they were constantly in contact with one another and with feces; the latter condition also required more antibiotics and drugs to prevent disease.

Objections have been raised to the use of cages, but in fact they provide greater comfort than do litter floors. The larger numbers of birds in a given area produce sufficient heat to maintain comfortable temperatures, which allows for more ventilation to provide a flow of fresh air. Litter floors, on the other hand, give rise to ammonia-rich air that can cause respiratory and other maladies. Lowered light levels and reduced contact between birds also inhibit cannibalism. Finally, controlled temperatures cause the birds to eat less to meet their energy needs; the estimate has been made that if all laying hens were housed on litter floors, eggs would cost twice as much as they do now.

The United States is a leader of the worldwide poultry industry. In 2002, for example, it produced nearly 68 billion eggs. Over 400 billion eggs were produced in China, and over 90 billion eggs by the 15 members of the European Union. Within the United States, Iowa produces about 11 percent of the nation's eggs, followed by Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, and Indiana; the leading broiler-producing states are Georgia, Arkansas, and Alabama.

III

TURKEYS

The turkey industry began to develop on a larger scale in the late 1930s and early 1940s and has since grown rapidly. At first the birds were grown on ranges, but disease problems forced farmers to raise them on slats or wire platforms. This proved costly and labor inefficient, so when controls were found for the diseases, turkey farms returned to the use of ranges or large houses. In 2002 about 272 million turkeys were produced in the United States; North Carolina, Minnesota, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and California are the leading states.

IV

DUCKS

In the United States, the highly specialized duck industry was once concentrated almost entirely in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, where more than 10 million ducks were grown each year in the 1960s. The industry has now spread to Wisconsin, Indiana, and Virginia. Ducks are often started at one end of their house and moved along progressively until they are ready for market at approximately seven weeks of age, when they weigh about 3.1 kg (about 7 lb). Usually they are started on wire and progress to litter and outside runs at three to four weeks of age.

V

GEESE

In the United States, most geese are produced in small farm flocks of up to a few hundred; few large operations exist. The birds are hardy and are usually grown on ranges, where they are good foragers and require little care after the first two or three weeks. Goose remains a specialty food, but the demand for goose down has increased in recent decades. The birds themselves are sometimes used by farmers for weed control.