News

Monitoring development goes to semi commercial scale !

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Mite infestations will change behaviour of the hens during night time (restlessness, agitation) . This altered behaviour can be measured by sensors (cameras) at night which will indicate the state of mite infestation in the hen house depending on the state of agitation of the hens. Hen's behaviour recording is about to start at a semi commercial scale at the Experimental Poultry Centre in Geel! Read More

Ongoing surveys

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Surveys are being conducted at the moment in Belgium, France and UK on poultry red mite infestations. The goal is to reach 30 surveys amoungst the 3 countries. First, a questionnaire with the farmer is conducted and common red mite hiding places are observed inside the building. This will alllow us to have an insight on : - what is the level of red mite infestations of hen houses - what type of equipment (for example perches) are in the hen houses and how they can provide hiding places for red mites - impact of red mite infestations on animal wellfare and performance indicators - biosecurity measures applied - treatment applied (preventive or curative) Read More

Mite sampling and surveys

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A meeting took place at Geel to coodinate experimenters for mite sampling. DNA research will be conducted on the samples to examine where and how often Poultry Mites come into contact with predatory mites that naturally occur in hen houses. Furthermore, surveys will be conducted in Belgium France and UK in May and June to obtain more insight into the current situation concerning mite infestations and control mechanisms, and to map the wishes of the farmers in poultry mite control. Read More