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Diet a key to new super chickens, research finds

October 20, 2004

Mingan Choct.jpgChickens bred for eating grow by a quarter overnight and the key to this is good diet, not hormones, according to a Professor at the University of New England.
Up to 10 million birds are slaughtered every week for Australian dinner tables, making it economically impossible to inject each bird with hormones, Professor Mingan Choct, (pictured) Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Poultry CRC, said.
Another fallacy Professor Choct will explode in his forthcoming lecture is the notion chickens are fed in tubes and broilers are kept in cages.

“Misconceptions such as these are common, however, nutrients are a key to the successful modern chicken, rather than hormones,” Professor Choct said.
“Also, chickens bred for eating are invariably reared on the ground, where they can roam around.”
Professor Choct will present his inaugural lecture at Armidale Town Hall on Thursday, October 21.
Entitled Antibiotics, Superbugs and Hormones, Facts, Fantasies and Fallacies, it will concentrate on delivering the facts on the Australian poultry industry.
Chicken is Australia’s first meat of choice, with the industry worth $3 billion annually and employing 200,000 people nationwide.
The industry has grown vastly over the past 40 years and with it, the size of chicken bred for Australia’s dinner tables.
These days, the average chicken increases its weight by 5000 per cent in five weeks, usually weighing about 2kg at time of slaughter, whereas a modern laying hen produces up to 330 eggs a year.
Professor Choct will argue good nutrition is a key to such a prodigious animal, with the average modern chick being fed a diet matching all its nutrient needs.
“These figures depend on the birds and they are highly selected, however, great pains are taken by producers to ensure the animals are fed balanced nutrients and kept in a hygienic environment,” Professor Choct said.
It was this which separated the efficacy of the modern chicken with its parent stock from 40 years ago, which was fed a similar grain diet but with less care taken to nutrients and health care, Professor Choct added.
“Chicken is the number one meat among Australians because it is versatile, convenient and perceived to be healthy,” Professor Choct said.
The lecture, which starts at 7.30pm, is open to the public and free. Supper will be served afterwards.
For more information phone Professor Choct on 6773 5121 or
Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779.

Posted by Lydia Roberts at October 20, 2004 09:57 AM