Laying hens in mobile barns: Opportunity or risk for animal welfare, market and public acceptance? ("MobiWohl" project) - Animal welfare sub-project

The collaborative research project ‘MobiWohl’, funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and carried out by the Universities of Kassel and Göttingen as well as the State Farming Agency of Hesse (LLH), focused on the question of whether keeping laying hens in mobile houses represents an opportunity or a risk for animal welfare, market and public acceptance. Over two years, animal welfare indicators (using MTool^©) were recorded every six months on 42 laying hen farms (22 x conventional; 20 x organic) in mobile houses of different sizes (160 to 2,000 hens) and design to answer this question. Resource and management data were additionally collected in order to identify possible risks for welfare problems, if appropriate, or possible prevention strategies. On average some, but not all animal welfare problems were less prevalent than reported from stationary housing systems. This related in particular to the widespread problem of the behavioural disorders feather pecking and cannibalism, probably largely due a high use of attractive free range and smaller group sizes. Keel bone damage and head injuries occurred to a greater extent in some of the flocks and were not below the prevalence in stationary housing systems. Herds with good and lower animal welfare status were found in all mobile housing types. The potential of mobile houses for improved animal welfare can only be realized with the relevant expertise and an appropriate farm-specific management that can also successfully deal with the specific challenges of mobile housing. The freely available practical guide Leitfaden-Mobiwohl developed in this project shall help farmers to gain an overview of their flock’s animal welfare status and to align their management in order to improve animal welfare in the long term by providing advice and best practice examples. In addition, the guide provides valuable information and assistance on which aspects need to be considered in the course of successful marketing. These include tips on pricing, market segmentation and positioning strategies as well as possible approaches to sales problems, for example. 

Publications

Andraczek, A. (2021): What does a happy chicken need? Kassel scientists want to improve mobile poultry houses. Article in the Witzenhäuser Allgemeine Zeitung, 09.12.2021.

German Press Agency (2022): Impetus for the agricultural turnaround. Article in the Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine and the Gießener Allgemeine, 27.01.2022.

Dorkewitz, K.; Niemeyer, L.L.; Gieseke, D.; Knierim, U. (2022): Reliability and practicability of established methods to assess the human-animal relationship and general reactivity of laying hens in mobile housing. KTBL publication - Current work on species-appropriate animal husbandry 11530, KTBL, Darmstadt, 122-132.

Dorkewitz, K.; Lang, N. (2023): Animal welfare management in mobile laying hen husbandry. Project MobiWohl: Laying hens in mobile barns - opportunity or risk for animal welfare, market and public acceptance? Article in the conference reader for the 27th Bioland Poultry Conference. February 28 to March 02, 2023 in Tambach-Dietharz, 13-15.

Knierim, U.; Dorkewitz, K.; Gieseke, D. (2024): Animal health in mobile housing systems for laying hens - MobiWohl. Proceedings of the 12th Leipzig Veterinary Congress, January 18-20, 2024, 303-305.

Dorkewitz, K.; Gieseke, D.; Knierim, U.; Lang, N.; Keppler, C. (2024): Animal welfare in mobile laying hen husbandry - Results from the project Laying hens in mobile houses: Opportunity or risk for animal welfare, market and public acceptance? (MobiWohl). Article in the conference reader for the 28th Bioland Poultry Conference. February 27-29, 2024 in Bonn, 19-20.

Dorkewitz, K.; Gieseke, D.; Keppler, C.; Knierim, U. (2024): Laying hens in mobile barns - opportunity or risk for animal welfare? Proceedings, 17th Scientific Conference on Organic Farming. March 5 to 8, 2024 in Giessen, 333-334.

Dorkewitz, K.; Gieseke, D.; Knierim, U.; Bühner, C.; Kühl, S.; Spiller, A.; Lang, N.; Keppler, C. (2024): Added value mobile barn. Is keeping laying hens in a mobile barn really the best thing from an animal welfare perspective? And will the expensive eggs even be bought in the end? DGS magazine for the poultry industry 04/2024, 36-38.

Dorkewitz, K.; Horbach, S.; Gieseke, D.; Knierim, U. (2024): Mobile barn - a chance for more animal welfare? Badische Bauern Zeitung, No. 31, August 3, 2024, 26-27.

Dorkewitz, K.; Horbach, S.; Gieseke, D.; Knierim, U.; Bühner, C.; Garrelfs, I. (2024): Mobile laying hen husbandry - opportunity or risk? Badische Zeitung, September 2024.

Dorkewitz, K.; Gieseke, D.; Knierim, U. (2024): Mobile laying hen husbandry out of conviction? - Connections between attitudes towards animals, the human-animal relationship and animal-related indicators (contribution to ethology conference in Freiburg).