Farming Today This Week

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Farming Today: 08/07/23 Farming Today This Week. Eggs: hatchery; beak trimming; free-range to barn; bird flu and vaccine. UK-grown flowers.

08/07/23 Farming Today This Week. Eggs: hatchery; beak trimming; free-range to barn; bird flu and vaccine. UK-grown flowers.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 08/07/23 Farming Today This Week. Eggs: hatchery; beak trimming; free-range to barn; bird flu and vaccine. UK-grown flowers.

Which comes first the chicken or the egg? A look at egg production.

Egg production: from a hatchery which produces egg-laying hens, to the controversial practice of beak trimming. Free range and barn eggs, and the quest for an avian flu vaccine.

All week on Farming Today we've been looking at egg production. We've had unique access to a hatchery in Peterborough, which provides chicks which will grow up to be the hens which lay our eggs. 

One of the processes used in hatcheries, is to remove the tips of the chicks’ beaks with an infra-red laser.  It’s known as beak trimming and it’s a means of stopping the mature birds from hurting each other by pecking at each others feathers - a behaviour which is common in chickens when they’re commercially farmed in big flocks. However there's been debate for years about whether the practice should be banned. We speak to campaigners who'd like it to be phased out.

We visit a free-range egg producer who is still keeping his birds indoors because even though he's allowed to let them out, he says the risk of bird flu is too great. He says a vaccine is the answer. We ask the chief vet how close farmers are to having a commercial vaccine to protect their flocks against influenza. Also we visit an egg producer in Shropshire who’s breaking 20 tonnes of eggs a day - on purpose! He's an egg farmer who specialises in producing liquid eggs.

And a trip to RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival where flower farmers are promoting home-grown blooms to shoppers and florists.

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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08/07/23 Farming Today This Week. Eggs: hatchery; beak trimming; free-range to barn; bird flu and vaccine. UK-grown flowers.

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