Poultry Unit

1909

The poultry department was established at College Farm (HAU)

1912

Egg laying experiments started on the farm

1926

The National Institute of Poultry Husbandry (NIPH) was founded, awarding the National Diploma in Poultry Husbandry for over 40 years

1960’s

Major upgrades were performed on the poultry department:

A grant was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture to build new teaching blocks.

A grant from the British Egg Marketing Board (BEMB) was issued in 1966 to build a poultry husbandry experimental unit

1970’s

There was an evident national separation forming between the commercial poultry enterprises and the demonstration and research units

1971

The responsibility of financing poultry research transferred to Harper Adams following the demise of the BEMB

1980’s

Due to the separation in the 1970’s, the Harper Adams poultry unit decided to mostly operate commercial egg production facilities

2000

The poultry unit facility peaked at 85,000 laying hens

2007

The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 introduced legislation to enhance the welfare of hens in conventional cages and the subsequent banning of unenriched cage systems in 2012

2010

HAU began renting the commercial egg production facilities to Oaklands Farm Eggs LTD (Oaklands)

2011

Oaklands were operating a 72,000-bird enriched colony cage system and had converted the small free-range layer facility present at HAUC into a barn system, supporting undergraduate poultry teaching by providing easy access to commercial scale chicken egg production across multiple production systems.

Poultry research was modernized by the development of a new facility located near the NIPH hatchery, and all poultry research was transferred to this facility in 2014

2019

Commercial egg production at HAU ceased as a result of the COVID pandemic.

In November 2022 the last of the Oaklands layers were destocked and the cages removed

2022

As of June 2022, Future Farm is now responsible for the poultry facility and providing technical support

Teaching and Research

Harper Adams University began providing taught postgraduate courses (PgC/PgD/MSc) from 2013 in Poultry Business Management and from 2015 awards (PgC, PgD, MSc and MRes) in Poultry Production. However, support for these awards were withdrawn by HAU in 2018 and the last of the MSc Poultry Production student was awarded in 2021.

As of today, poultry teaching and research is conducted in one housing unit, which has the ability to house around 3,000 birds/year. The unit is comprised of a series of buildings including laying hens (120 enriched cages, housing approximately 900 hens) and broiler chickens (with a small provision for turkeys and other minor species as required). Flocks are only purchased to meet research contracts, as the unit currently has no commercial production. However, we do have some surrounding buildings by the active unit that could be refurbished to allow for commercial egg production.

Future Opportunities

The global poultry industry faces both common and localised threats and opportunities. Research is required to understand and develop solutions to Avian Influenza on a global scale, to continually improve feed efficiency, poultry genetics and feed materials to mitigate the environmental concerns relating to deforestation and carbon capture.

There continues to be worldwide societal concern with foodborne pathogens, antimicrobial resistance and bird welfare, however, there is also an ongoing demand for poultry products every year. HAU has over 100 years of poultry expertise and is well established to provide trusted and independent research, teaching and knowledge exchange which is recognised as internationally excellent.

If you would like to know more about the poultry unit or have a query about conducting some research with us, please use our contact page to get in touch.