Tuesday, 10 May 2022 15:55

Backyard poultry keepers sought

Written by  Staff Reporters
Massey University is looking for backyard poultry keepers for a new project. Massey University is looking for backyard poultry keepers for a new project.

The race is on to find backyard poultry keepers for a project run by Massey University.

The project, led by Associate Professor Carolyn Gates from Massey University’s School of Veterinary Science, aims to improve the health and welfare of backyard poultry populations.

The project is being launched today to coincide with World Poultry Day, which recognises the dedication and efforts being made across the globe by those in the industry.

Researchers seek to co-design a national poultry health information system alongside the backyard poultry keepers of New Zealand in the hopes of making it easier for them to provide the best possible care for their flocks.

At the same time, the system will capture important data that will help researchers identify more effective ways to improve poultry health and wellbeing.

The project is being funded through the Ministry of Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFF Futures), with additional co-funding from the Poultry Industry Association of New Zealand (PIANZ).

Phase one of the project invites backyard poultry keepers to visit the project website, register their support for the initiative, and participate in short voluntary surveys to help shape the design of a national poultry health information system.

Gates says despite many households across New Zealand keeping small numbers of backyard poultry for any number of personal reasons, very little is known about the country’s backyard poultry population.

“We don’t know much about how these birds are kept and what health challenges they face since there is currently no legal requirement for poultry keepers with fewer than 100 birds to register their flock in a national database,” she says.

Gates says surveys conducted by Massey University in 2021 revealed that backyard birds are rarely seen by veterinarians for preventative flock health care advice and many poultry keepers report having difficulty finding clinics willing to treat sick birds.

As a result, she says, many backyard birds are likely getting sick from preventable diseases and, when they do get sick, keepers are likely using unreliable resources like social media to get poultry health advice which may be causing harm to their birds.

“Additionally, in the event of a natural disaster or an infectious disease outbreak like they recently had with Avian Influenza in the United Kingdom, we also don’t have enough information about backyard poultry flocks to be able to provide keepers with the support they need to keep their birds healthy.”

For the purpose of this project, a backyard poultry keeper is defined as any individual who keeps less than 100 birds for companionship, meat or eggs for personal use, hobbies, showing, breeding, pest control, and/or supplemental income.

If you are a backyard poultry keeper in New Zealand, visit www.poultryintel.org.nz to access the links to participate in the project activities.

More like this

Unsung heroes under the soil

Much of the scientific work being carried out at the Massey University led regenerative agriculture project, Whenua Haumanu, is below the ground.

Dairy, hort lead bounce back

The latest Ministry for Primary Industries report on the state of the primary sector shows that things are starting to look up after a rough 2023-24 season.

Massey Research Field Day attracts huge interest

More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.

Featured

New UHT plant construction starts

Construction is underway at Fonterra’s new UHT cream plant at Edendale, Southland following a groundbreaking ceremony recently.

National

Machinery & Products

GEA launches robotic milkers

Milking technology provider GEA Farm Technologies is introducing its first automatic milking system (AMS) in New Zealand.

More front hoppers

German seeding specialists Horsch have announced a new 1600- litre double-tank option that will join its current Partner FT single…

Origin Ag clocks up 20 years

With roots dating back to 2004, Origin Ag was formed as a co-operative business model that removed the traditional distributor,…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Dark ages

OPINION: Before we all let The Green Party have at it with their 'bold' emissions reduction plan, the Hound thought…

Rhymes with?

OPINION: The Feds' latest banking survey shows that bankers are even less popular with farmers than they used to be,…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter