In New Zealand, chicken meat is the largest single source of human campylobacter infections.¹ Commercial and backyard poultry also contribute significantly to the spread of diseases in our wild bird populations.²

As surveyed within the Poultry Industry, there is high variability in how serious the farmers take biosecurity.³

MPI reports most of the thousands of chickens and fowls used each year being used for “animal husbandry” research. The majority of the birds used are killed for or in the end of the studies.⁴

The majority of publications we found on poultry revolved around maximising feeding efficiency and, therefore, profit. This is no surprise, with a retail value of 1.8 billion NZD and around 20 chickens consumed in NZ per capita each year, according to the Poultry Industry Association.⁵ The demand for their bodies and products creates an incentive for this research. You can learn more about the connection between animal testing and the business of animal agriculture here.

Similarly to the other animals used in farming, this creates a demand for animal experiments as the industry aims to:

• maximise the dollar output per animal;
• innovate its’ way out of climate obligations, as well as
• innovate its way into creating new consumer markets and product trends.

Chickens and markets.

While most chickens are used for research relating to animal agriculture, they are also used for other areas of research; some might surprise you!

For example, Chickens in NZ have been used for:

• agricultural research, including:
  • the effect of particle size, preparation temperature, the chickens age or breed,
  • how their digestion works
  • testing cheaper feedstuffs (meat and bone meal)
  • testing feed supplements
  • interaction of different nutrients during digestion
  • other industry related studies like
    • developing easier testing of hormone levels
    • testing painkillers and brain activity while in pain
• behaviour research, including:
  • remembering a negative experience
  • learning to extrapolate between objects and photos of the objects
  • telling the duration of something
  • if they lose motivation if the correct response at a task is a lot of work
  • if expecting a small or big reward influences their behaviour
• studies around unwanted species control to investigate the used toxins
• research trying to model human eyesight in chicks
• cancer drug testing.

We barely found studies on the other species conflated under the “chicken/fowl” section by MPI. But we will keep looking.

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Chickens used for science in NZ came mostly from commercial sources, with fewer birds sourced from farms and breeding units.

Discover real-life examples of how chickens have been used in NZ below! We chose a small selection of the studies around maximising feed digestibility or weight gain, as they are all very similar in their setup.

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