Establishing the Facilities - Humane and Healthy Poultry Production - page 15

Water space 1.5 round 5-gal. waterers/100 birds for first 4 wks.

Laying or breeding fowl

Roosting space 8 in./bird

1 ft. of feed line/4 birds
1 tube or pan feeder/15 birds in controlled feeding environment
1 tube or pan feeder/40 birds in a free feeding environment
Water space 1 ft. of water trough/15 birds
1 round waterer/100 birds
Nest space 1 well-maintained nest box/4 laying hens
Meat birds*
Feeder space 1 ft. of feed line/10 birds
1 tube or pan feeder/30 birds
Water space 4 ft. of trough waterers/100 birds
1 tube waterer/100 birds
Source: British Columbia Certification Program.
*These standards give no specifics for ducks, geese, turkeys, or other fowl.

Feeder space

Providing birds with an outdoor environment is probably the biggest debate in the organic
poultry industry. I say “industry,” because among smaller producers this is mostly a non-issue.
It is a general belief among small organic growers that access to the outdoors can and should be
provided to all types of poultry in all stages of life. Pasture-based systems are widely used in
Europe on a large scale and have been shown to be both economically and environmentally vi-
able. However, many large producers in this country have contended that outdoor access at a
minimum is unhealthy for birds and that pasture access is completely unviable. As evidenced
by the complaints brought by the Country Hen against its certifier, which required outdoor ac-
cess beyond covered porches, some large growers want to adapt the new organic rules to their
existing systems, which historically had been accepted by some certifiers. 8 In May of 2002 the
National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) voted to keep the outdoor-access rule intact, but its
position hasn't been adopted as of this writing. 9