chickens on scratch pads

New York Colony’s ‘furnished’ poultry housing wins sustainability awards

Furnished housing provides a more natural open environment, with nesting areas, scratch pads, and perches

Reading Time: 2 minutes State-of-the-art “furnished housing” for poultry has won the New York Hutterite Colony the inaugural Canadian Poultry Sustainability Award for both the table egg industry and the overall poultry industry honours. The Lethbridge-area colony was praised for being a progressive and forward-thinking egg farm, with a strong commitment to animal welfare and environmentally responsible farming practices. […] Read more



many chickens in a barn

The tale of how chickens got so big

Today’s strain of chickens are four times bigger than the broilers 
of 60 years ago, and they need only half the feed

Reading Time: 3 minutes A modern broiler chicken grows a whopping four times faster than one bred in the 1950s — and packs on those pounds with much less feed. “They’re much more efficient,” said Martin Zuidhof, associate professor poultry systems at the University of Alberta. “It takes half the feed to grow a bird.” Zuidhof has been getting […] Read more

Olymel plans major expansion at Que. chicken plant

Meat packing giant Olymel has announced plans for $10 million in expansions and upgrades at one of its poultry further-processing plants in Quebec’s Monteregie region. The company said Wednesday the planned expansions at its Ste-Rosalie facility will include 15,000 additional square feet of work space and storage, including a third cooking line, a spice warehouse, […] Read more





St. John’s chicken packer back in business

Newfoundland chicken processor Country Ribbon Inc. has resumed operations after a brief suspension of its federal operating license. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said Friday it had suspended the St. John’s company’s license over what the agency called failure to implement “corrective measures required by regulation” to ensure meat safety. [Related story] The company […] Read more




(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. lawmakers want to curb antibiotic use on farms

Reuters — Two U.S. lawmakers are calling for action to rein in antibiotic use in livestock in response to a Reuters investigation showing how top U.S. poultry firms have been administering drugs to their flocks. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said she plans to introduce new legislation authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to collect […] Read more