Poultry Facilities
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The National Institute for Poultry Husbandry (NIPH) is a commercial and research facility, which is also used for teaching purposes. The commercial egg production unit (of about 100 thousand laying hens) has five thousand birds in free-range systems and the rest in caged accommodation. The research facility has a number of sheds of various sizes. The largest shed can operate as two large floor pens to demonstrate commercial poultry meat production, or can be divided into pens to facilitate replicated scientific experiments.
Environmental-controlled rooms (for lighting and temperature) and a partitioned caged-laying facility allow replicated comparative studies. Poultry behaviour and welfare assessments of egg production systems and poultry meat production are also undertaken. These facilities allow practical demonstrations of commercial egg and poultry meat production. Students undertake research projects in their final year. In recent years these studies have included welfare evaluations of production systems, perching behaviour, growth evaluations of organic (slow growing) and standard commercial (fast growing) strains. Environmental enrichment and fear in chickens, feed additives, probiotic and homeopathic medicines have also been tested. The research facilities are also used for commercial trials for food additives and production evaluations.
