Bas Rodenburg: “Best practice hens” project in Europe

During the three-day congress at the VIV-Europe 2022, aviNews International had the great opportunity to interview different poultry experts with experience in diverse fields or areas in the industry. This note introduces you to the interview with Dr. Bas Rodenburg, professor of animal welfare at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The interviews were developed by Ad Bal, the editor of aviNews International, who has more than 20 years of experience as an editor in de poultry sector. Dr. Rodenburg is the coordinator of the project called “Best Practice Hens” which is a European initiative. He explained that one of the reasons to create this project is the increase of cage-free hens and the variations in the production systems among countries regarding the percentage of farms that are changing to cage-free. The European Commission proposed this project to help farmers that have a low percentage of farms switch to cage-free to provide them with the best practices during the transition.

• A consortium, consisting of 7 partners, is developing Best Practices for Non-cage Egg Production Systems.

This will be realized by sharing knowledge and best practices from countries that already keep the majority of their hens in non-cage systems, whilst also adjusting this knowledge to the local situation in the target countries (Visit the article “Taking layer welfare to a higher level across Europe” to read more) Other topics discussed during the interview were:

• Partners of this project
• Project financing
• The transition of the farmers to non-cage systems

To watch the interview with Dr. Bas Rodenburg, check out the video where the above topics and others are discussed in depth.

• aviNews international delivered the latest magazine to most of the assistants. This edition contained technical articles about incubation, pathology, laying hens, equipment, and interviews, among others. To check that edition you can visit this link.