Expertise
Organic chicken farming
Lisa Baldinger | 01.06.2022
Organic chicken farming produces eggs and chicken meat. These two branches of production are independent of each other when specialised breeds are used and are therefore usually operated separately. However, there are also farms that, for example, raise their own pullets, fatten them in addition to egg production, or keep dual-purpose chickens that are suitable for both egg and meat production.
Smaller egg producers (3 to 10,000 hen places) mostly market to local health food shops, via subscription boxes or directly, while large farms (10,000 to 30,000 hen places) sell mainly to wholesalers or food retailers, like their conventional colleagues.
The EU Organic Regulation 2018/848 requires the use of animals adapted to their rearing environment and recommends giving preference to indigenous breeds or lines (European Commission 2018, paragraph 40). However, chicken breeding in the 20th and 21st centuries has undergone an intense process of concentration, as a result of which a few globally active breeding companies now dominate the market.
Breeding is predominantly oriented towards conventional husbandry systems, as the market share of organic chicken farming is comparatively small even in Germany. Therefore, even on organic farms, mainly commercial hybrid breeds are kept, which are specialised in laying or fattening performance. In addition, there is the niche of dual-purpose chickens, which originate from both commercial and independent breeding, and represent an alternative to the use of specialised breeds.
Organic livestock production is area-based. This means that the number of animals per hectare (ha) is limited in such a way that no more than 170 kg of nitrogen per ha and year is produced by animal husbandry. For chickens this means an upper limit of 230 laying hens or 580 broilers per ha.
German organic production associations set these upper limits even lower. Bioland, for example, only allows 140 laying hens or 280 broiler chickens per ha, in order to promote the supply of the animals with the farm's own feed in addition to limiting nitrogen inputs.
Basically, a distinction can be made between two housing systems for both laying hens and broilers: the fixed stable with adjoining winter garden and green run, and the mobile stable with green run and optional winter garden. Because a mobile stable can be moved again and again, this housing system is suitable for small and medium-sized flocks (200 to 2000 laying hens), while the fixed stable can also accommodate larger flocks up to the permitted upper limit of 3000 hens or 4800 broilers per stable.
Regarding the interior design of the stable, whether fixed or mobile, a distinction is made in laying hen husbandry between floor and aviary husbandry, while broilers are practically exclusively fattened in floor husbandry. In floor housing, the birds move on a level that is suitably littered. An aviary, on the other hand, is a construction consisting of several levels, with water, feed and perches offered on all levels. There is no litter in the aviary itself, but the hens also have access to a littered coop area.
Access to a green run is mandatory for all hens, and may only be omitted in exceptional cases, e.g. in extreme weather conditions or on veterinary order. The following table shows the prescribed space:
| Stable area, animals or kg live weight per m2 | perch, cm per animal | Run, animals per m2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed stable | Mobile stable | |||
| Laying hen | 6 animals | 18 | 4 | 4 |
| Broiler | 21 kg | 5 | 4 | 2,5 |
| Pullets and males of layer lines | 21 kg | 10 | 1 | 1 |
Organic chickens should be fed with organic feed which, as far as possible, comes from the farm itself. In addition to meeting the nutritional needs, the behavioural needs of the animals must always be observed in the feeding process; for chickens, this applies in particular to their high motivation to search for food by scratching and pecking. For laying hens, the German organic associations prescribe that 10 % of the daily feed allowance be scattered as whole grains in the litter. This motivates the hens to forage and allows them to live out their innate behaviour. The feed mix of broilers, on the other hand, must consist of two-thirds cereals, protein crops and oilseeds.
The provision of roughage to chickens is also mandatory, although these have low digestibility for chickens and therefore contribute only to a limited extent to nutrient supply. However, components such as pasture grass, silage or hay offer interesting occupation for the animals and thus prevent behavioural disorders, support digestion (acid from silage) or contribute to the supply of vitamins. Therefore, these feedstuffs, which at first glance seem to be low in nutrients, are also valuable components of an animal-friendly diet.
The supply of chickens with energy from cereals is usually easy to ensure from the farm's own cultivation. However, there is a particular challenge in supplying chickens with essential amino acids, which, as protein components, are indispensable building blocks of the grain substance and the products chicken meat and egg. The first limiting amino acid for chickens is methionine, which is unfortunately not available in sufficient quantities in domestic, protein-rich grain legumes such as peas or field beans.
Therefore, most farms have to buy in feed components. Examples are press cake from soya, rapeseed and sunflower oil production, gluten from grain processing and brewer's yeast. Since it is not yet possible to provide 100% of these high-quality feeds from organic production nationwide, there is a temporary exemption until 31.12.2025 which allows the use of 5% protein-rich feeds of non-organic origin in the feeding of young poultry. Mostly, this is corn gluten or brewer's yeast. The feeding of laying hens has been based on 100% organic components since 1.1.2022.
As for all organically kept animals, the use of medicines, especially antibiotics, is subject to strict regulations for chickens. According to the precautionary principle, laying hens in particular undergo the same extensive vaccination programme as their conventionally kept counterparts during their rearing period, in order to prevent diseases as best as possible during the laying period.
Broilers are also vaccinated against individual diseases. In case of disease, chickens are usually treated on a flock basis. As far as possible, means are used that can be administered via the drinking water or via the air as a spray.
Health, i.e. freedom from disease, and access to water, feed and shelter form the basis for high animal welfare. Furthermore, animal welfare-oriented husbandry also includes the effort to allow animals to live out their normal behaviour, i.e. movement, social and exploratory behaviour.
The regulations for organic chicken husbandry described above serve this goal. They include a stimulating housing environment, both indoors and outdoors, that provides space for movement and interaction with conspecifics, changing environmental stimuli and substrates for exploration.
Last but not least, good animal welfare also includes experiencing positive emotions and avoiding pain and suffering. Therefore, beak docking is prohibited in organic chicken farming.
The feeding of laying hens based on 100% organic components since 01.01.2022 is a challenge for the industry, as high-quality components from organic production are in short supply. This challenge is being met by optimising the ration on the basis of the available feed, encouraging the hens to eat more feed and by technical measures in the barn to optimise the feed supply. In the medium term, it is hoped that the supply of components such as soya cake, potato white and maize gluten from organic production will adapt to the increased demand.
Also since 01.01.2022, the killing of male day-old chicks of laying lines has been prohibited in Germany. Due to the genetic incompatibility of fattening and laying performance, it is not possible for a single origin to achieve high efficiency in both areas. Therefore, male chicks from breeds bred for laying performance are not suitable for fattening, and until recently were mostly killed after hatching. Germany is a European pioneer with the killing ban, and is now in a transition phase. Alternatives to the killing of chicks are sexing in the egg, broiler fattening and the keeping of dual-purpose chickens. Breeding initiatives in the area of dual-purpose chickens have been underway for several years, and the Thünen Institute for Organic Farming is also working on this topic (e.g. in the "PPILOW" project).
