A rise in standards for broiler chicken keeping (From Smallholder)

A rise in standards for broiler chicken keeping

7:50am Sunday 12th April 2009

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The Animal Welfare Act 2006 consolidated and modernised animal welfare legislation. It introduced a statutory ‘duty of care’ requiring owners and keepers to take all reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of animals in their care, to the extent required by good practice.

The act enables preventive action to be taken before suffering occurs, and strengthens penalties and enforcement measures to deter persistent offenders.

The act also introduced the power to make secondary legislation and statutory codes of practice to promote the welfare of both farmed and non-farm animals.

So, things are looking up a little for standards in broiler chicken production. A new EU directive for poultry production is to be discussed this year. DEFRA is consulting broiler producers about the new rules which, reportedly, would enshrine welfare standards for broilers for the first time.

Conscientious commercial businesses are up against what the cost-conscious consumer will buy. So, the sooner there is a level playing field for producers across Europe the better for producers, some of who already have higher standards of animal welfare.

Smallholders can be outside this commercial sector with birds kept in small numbers for home egg or poultry meat consumption, or the for conservation and exhibition.

So where do they lie in the raft of legislation and guidelines that follow the 2006 Animal Welfare Bill. Fortunately it is recognized that non-commercial birds are different; birds kept in small numbers, hobby livestock and pet birds are in a different category from commercial scale.

The avian welfare strategy has been put together by a group of eight specialist societies: the British Waterfowl Association, Hawk Board, National Council for Aviculture, National Pigeon Association of Great Britain, Parrot Society UK, Pet Care Trust, Poultry Club and World Pheasant Association.

If you are interested in keeping such birds take a look at the welfare discussion document, Avian Health and Welfare Strategy for Hobbyist Livestock and Pet Birds.

This is available as a pdf and as a web page on birdwelfarestrategy.org.uk In its final form the document will become England's health and welfare strategy for birds which will be the basis for the development of best-practice guidelines for non-commercial bird keepers.

The draft strategy has four main aims.

n To bring all hobbyist bird keepers together and develop a national strategy programme under one umbrella n To maintain participation in bird keeping n To raise bird keeping skills, training and standards n To improve the quality and breeding of birds under hobbyist control.

The document also reviews medicine needs, bird welfare standards, health surveillance arrangements and companion bird research.

Avian health and welfare is vital, not just because of our duty of care but because it is fundamental to the long-term future of our ability to keep and breed many species of birds.

For the strategy to succeed, everyone involved with all aspects of bird keeping needs to engage with the issues identified in this document and work together in a pragmatic and constructive way to achieve the aims.

Without this, the strategy will fail and a real opportunity will be lost. This represents a landmark, but it's only the starting point. All bird keeping organisations should try to work together to achieve this vision for the future.

It aims to submit the strategy in April to the supervising authority: the England Implementation Group (EIG). Email comments to birdstrategy@hotmail.co.uk A summary of the comments will be posted on the Comments page of www.birdwelfarestrategy.org.uk

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