The Government Legislative Center has published a draft regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development amending the regulation on the requirements and procedures for keeping farm animal species for which protection standards are specified in European Union regulations. The proposed regulation amends the regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of February 15, 2010 on the requirements and procedures for keeping farm animal species for which protection standards are specified in the European Union regulations (Journal of Laws of 2010, No. 56, item 344, as amended).
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Maintenance of hens other than laying hens and broiler chickens
The need to introduce changes to the above-mentioned regulation results from the conclusions of the audit DG (SANTE) 2023-7657, which took place in Poland on October 2-11, 2023. The audit showed incomplete implementation of Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning the protection of animals farm.
The auditors indicated the lack of full implementation of the above. Directive in respect of hens, other than laying hens and broiler chickens, kept in breeding establishments, reproductive establishments, poultry rearing establishments or in poultry hatching establishments, the purpose of which is to obtain laying hens.
What do the applicable regulations say?
The current regulations specify minimum requirements for laying hens, understood as birds that have reached laying maturity and are kept for the production of eggs not intended for hatching and broiler chickens.
"However, it is necessary to define minimum housing conditions also for hens other than laying hens and broiler chickens, kept in breeding establishments, reproduction establishments, poultry breeding establishments or in poultry hatching establishments, the purpose of which is to obtain laying hens" – emphasized in the justification of the draft. .
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Keeping hens – what changes?
The proposed regulation allows keeping hens other than laying hens and broiler chickens in a poultry house or in an open system. When kept in a poultry house, these hens are provided with:
- the same lighting conditions as for keeping laying hens;
- constant access to water intended for human consumption;
- feeding at least once a day.
If hens other than laying hens and broiler chickens are kept in the poultry house, they may be kept in modified single-level or multi-level cages or without single-level or multi-level cages. These hens, with the exception of hens kept in poultry hatcheries, should be provided with the same conditions in terms of cage equipment, access to a waterer and a perch as laying hens. These hens should be checked at least once a day.
The standards proposed in the draft regulation regarding the height of cages, the minimum available area for one bird kept in a breeding facility, a reproductive facility or a poultry rearing facility and the maximum stocking density per m2 in the case of keeping hens other than laying hens and broiler chickens in an open system were based on the standards included in the draft regulation. in the regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of September 2, 2003 on the minimum conditions for keeping individual species of farm animals, which was in force until 2010, and in the guidelines of the Chief Veterinary Officer of December 5, 2023 regarding the conditions for keeping birds of the hen species domestic, in reproductive flocks rearing chickens for laying hens and in poultry hatcheries.
It is proposed that the proposed regulation enters into force on January 1, 2025.
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