Alternative systems for poultry health, welfare and productivity. Chapter 5, Production systems for laying hens and broilers and risk of human pathogens

## Abstract The proceedings is divided into seven parts with seventeen chapters. Part 1 discusses the alternative systems for poultry, impact of legislation and assurance schemes on alternative systems for poultry welfare and the politics and economics; while Part 2 deals with the effects of alternative systems on disease and health of poultry, production systems for laying hens and broilers and risk of human pathogens. Part 3 presents the introduction to village and backyard poultry production and the technology and programmes for sustainable improvement of village poultry production. Part 4 reports on the production systems for waterfowl and game bird breeding, brooding and rearing. The Part 5 discusses the housing and management of layer breeders in rearing and production, furnished cages for laying hens and the performance, welfare, health and hygiene of laying hens in non-cage systems in comparison with cage systems. On the other hand, the housing and management, and alternative systems for meat chickens and turkeys are highlighted in Part 6, while the challenges and opportunities for alternative production systems are elaborated in Part 7. How poultry are housed and managed in order to ensure profitability, sustainability, and good levels of animal welfare are the challenging issues that commercial poultry keepers face, particularly where legislation is bringing about legal requirements for housing. This book compares and contrasts alternative housing with conventional and traditional systems for commercial poultry (laying hens, meat chickens, turkeys, waterfowl and gamebirds) with regards to welfare, disease, health, nutrition, sustainability and genotype-environment interaction.