Low input breeds: search for the ideal laying hen for organic and free range systems.

Since 1960 the majority of commercial layers are housed in cages. Non-cage housing started to appear again from 1980 onwards and increases in importance. It is questionable if birds bred to perform in cages are also suited for free range housing. We examined the performance of current genotypes in free range systems (organic and conventional) by an inventory among laying hen farmers in Switzerland, The Netherlands and France (325 flocks on 275 farms) and organised workshops with farmers to discuss their ideas on breeding goals (‘the ideal hen’) for free range systems.

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