DAILY EGGS | POULTRY FARMING - Happy Hens | SMS Frankfurt - Agentur für digitale Medien

SMS FRANKFURT - AGENCY FOR DIGITAL MEDIA AND POSTPRODUCTION, FRANKFURT/GERMANY Beside creative and corporate design, we develop and produce animation, and corporate videos for your company or event. - Our service also includes the cd-/dvd-production as well as DVD-Authoring and Video Encoding (format changing from VHS Video to DVD or Super8 to VHS, Super8 to DVD. - Free-range poultry farming Free-range poultry farming allows the birds to roam freely for a period of the day, although they are usually confined in sheds at night to protect them from predators or kept indoors if the weather is particularly bad. In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) states that a free-range chicken must have daytime access to open-air runs during at least half of its life. Unlike in the United States, this definition also applies to egg laying hens. The European Union regulates marketing standards for egg farming which specifies a minimum condition for free-range eggs that "hens have continuous daytime access to open-air runs, except in the case of temporary restrictions imposed by veterinary authorities". The RSPCA "Welfare standards for laying hens and pullets" indicates that the stocking rate must not exceed 1,000 birds per hectare (10 m2 per hen) of range available and a minimum area of overhead shade/shelter of 8 m2 per 1,000 hens must be provided. Free-range farming of egg-laying hens is increasing its share of the market. Defra figures indicate that 45% of eggs produced in the UK throughout 2010 were free-range, 5% were produced in barn systems and 50% from cages. This compares with 41% being free-range in 2009. Finding suitable land with adequate drainage to minimise worms and coccidial oocysts, suitable protection from prevailing winds, good ventilation, access and protection from predators can be difficult. Excess heat, cold or damp can have a harmful effect on the animals and their productivity. Unlike cage and barn systems, free-range farmers have little control over the food their animals come across, which can lead to unreliable productivity. In some farms, the manure from free-range poultry can be used to benefit crops. The benefits of free-range poultry farming for laying hens include opportunities for natural behaviours such as pecking, scratching, foraging and exercise outdoors. Free-range farming has come under criticism concerning animal welfare. Cannibalism, feather pecking and vent pecking, although not limited to free-range systems, can be common requiring beak trimming as a preventative measure. Diseases can be common and the animals are vulnerable to predators. In South-East Asia, a lack of disease control in free range farming has been associated with outbreaks of Avian influenza. Organic laying hens In organic egg-laying systems, chickens are also free-range. Organic systems are based upon restrictions on the routine use of synthetic yolk colourants, in-feed or in-water medications, other food additives and synthetic amino acids, and a lower stocking density and smaller group sizes. The Soil Association standards used to certify organic flocks in the UK, indicate a maximum outdoors stocking density of 1,000 birds per hectare and a maximum of 2,000 hens in each poultry house. In the UK, organic laying hens are not routinely beak-trimmed. Ducks and other poultry While often confused with free-range farming, yarding is actually a separate method of poultry culture by which chickens and cows are raised together. The distinction is that free-range poultry are either totally unfenced, or the fence is so distant that it has little influence on their freedom of movement. Yarding is common technique used by small farms in the Northeastern US. The birds are released daily from hutches or coops. The hens usually lay eggs either on the floor of the coop or in baskets if provided by the farmer. This husbandry technique can be complicated if used with roosters, mostly because of aggressive behaviour.