College of Agriculture and Bioresources

Hatchery

Hatchery

Two incubators (4300 eggs each) and three hatchers (1220 eggs each) service research and undergraduate teaching needs.  The hatchery also allows the unit to maintain two special chicken lines: Barred Plymouth Rocks, and an epileptic, mixed-strain chicken.

Gnotobiotic Facility

Gnotobiotic Facility

Supporting research in microbial ecology of the GIT, 4 isolators (and designated lab area) allow for a controlled and clean environment. Shower-in facilities are available.

Small Floor Facility

Small Floor Facility

Houses up to 20, 3x3m pens capable of containing 100 commercial broilers or 20-40 commercial turkeys per pen (depending on gender and market age).

Every pen is equipped with an infrared camera and feed/water measuring equipment, which collect data as frequently as every second. 

Large Floor Facility

Large Floor Facility

With the flexibility to install up to 12 (2.3 x 2 m) pens per room, 9 identical rooms contain a maximum total of 108 replicate pens, holding up to 70 broiler chicks per pen. A full room houses up to 1000 broilers and up to 325 turkeys (based on density, gender and market age).

Each of the 9 rooms are independently controlled for both lighting program and environmental conditions. Each room is capable of housing infrared cameras.

Adult Cage Facility

Adult Cage Facility

The Adult Cage Facility is a conventional 3-tiered cage system housing 6000 commercial hens.

Replicate units consist of 12 hens each, and currently total 120 units, with the potential to expand. 

5 infrared cameras, on tripod, are available

Bioassy Cages

Bioassy Cages

128, 51x51x46cm cages, housed in 2 tiers, allow for small scale research, housing up to 600 commercial broilers, for up to 35 days.

A row below the cages allows for collecting excreta samples in feed and ingredient digestibility research. The top tier of cages can support individual containers for measuring water intake.

Animal and Poultry Science Researchers

Henry L. ClassenNSERC-IRC Chair in Poultry Nutrition

Natacha HoganPathological and toxicological effects of contaminant exposure

Rex NewkirkMinistry of Agriculture, Research Chair in Feed Processing Technology

Karen Schwean-LardnerManagement and nutrition on behavior, welfare and production

Andrew Van KesselNutritional physiology and intestinal microbial ecology