Document type Technical data sheets published on the EURCAW-Poultry-SFA website
Author: European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare for Poultry and other small farmed animals (EURCAW-Poultry-SFA)
link to sheet for assessing the state of consciousness of broiler chickens (in French)
Preview: Welfare indicators addressing the five prioritized welfare areas will be described here. For an indicator, a factsheet will be developed and will describe the underlying welfare concern, the legal requirements, and a suggested inspection and scoring method.
When official veterinarians or inspectors perform animal welfare inspections on farms or at slaughterhouses, they follow a checklist tied to the EU and/or national legal requirements, often specified for the specific species and stage of production. During such an animal welfare inspection, different parameters are chosen as indicators of animal welfare, and the sum of those is considered the overall welfare status of the flock.
Useful definitions:
- Indicator: an occurrence, observation, record, or measurement which has a proven relationship with the legal requirement, which can be:
- Animal-based indicator (ABI): a response of an animal or an effect on an animal used to assess its welfare. It can be taken directly on the animal or indirectly and includes the use of animal records.
- Resource-based indicator (RBI): an evaluation of a feature of the environment in which the animal is kept or to which it is exposed.
- Management-based indicator (MBI): an evaluation of what the animal unit manager or stockperson does, and which management processes or tools are used.
- Iceberg indicator: indicator reflecting major welfare issues in an integrative manner in order to enable an initial overview of the welfare state.
link to indicator factsheet for assessing the state of consciousness in broilers
link to indicator factsheet for assessing the state of consciousness in turkeys
link to iceberg indicator factsheet for assessing Severe Feather Pecking
link to iceberg indicator factsheet for on farm assessment of Feather Cleanliness
link to iceberg indicator factsheet for assessing Foot Pad dermatitis (FPD) in Broiler Chicken
link to iceberg indicator factsheet for assessing foot lesions at slaughter in laying hens
