Summary

This project has the aim of raising awareness of the current status of rodent control across the Australian chicken meat and egg industries. The first phase of this project will involve the initiation of conversations between the research team and various chicken meat and egg industry stakeholders, both independent producers, larger market players and processors. Producers will be confidentially surveyed regarding their current implementation of rodenticides and broader rodent control strategies. Efforts will be made to include different production systems (barn, free range & organic for chicken meat; barn, caged & free range for layers), producers within different stages of the supply chain (breeder farms, hatcheries, grower farms; pullets, layer farms) and producers who have endured plague situations. This will allow us to gain a greater understanding of the challenges faced by the chicken meat and egg industries as individual producers attempt to implement their own specifically tailored rodent control programs.
The second phase will deliver a comprehensive review of scientific literature on available and emerging rodent control products suitable for implementation in the chicken meat and egg production systems. The review will consider options for dealing with plague situations, as well as considerations for managing rodents at different stages within the supply chain.
The results of this research directly benefit producers, the Australian chicken meat industry body and the Australian egg industry body by allowing them to understand the potential risks associated with current rodent control programs and by providing them with key product information that can be used to improve the management of rodents on-farm.

Program

Chicken Meat

Research Organisation

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development acting through the South Australian Research and Development Institute

Objective Summary

1. Survey the current use of rodenticides in Australian breeder and broiler production systems.
2. Survey the current use of rodenticides in Australian layer production systems.
3. Prepare a literature review of available and emerging rodent control products which are suitable for use in the Australian chicken meat and egg industries.