Preparing Pullets for the Future of the UK Egg Industry

The global egg industry faces increasing pressure to improve productivity and welfare whilst reducing environmental and financial costs. In the UK there is ongoing pressure to ban enriched cages, despite currently producing ~83% of eggs in cage-free systems, which are more costly and complex to manage than caged systems, due to increased labour requirements, disease challenges and behavioural considerations. Pressure to eliminate enriched cages continues to grow, yet replacing this production would require more than three billion additional cage-free eggs annually. Whilst some demand can be met through housing conversion and building, improving flock performance will be essential to maintain supply efficiently. Significant performance differences exist between and within countries, with Germany producing 27% more eggs per bird than the UK in 2024 and UK free-range flocks averaging 378 eggs per bird, compared with over 570 in top-performing flocks. Improving persistency of lay, disease resilience and feather cover, presents an opportunity to increase egg output from existing housing capacity, whilst improving welfare and sustainability.

Pullet rearing accounts for approximately 20% of a laying hen's life and represents a critical period of skeletal, physiological, behavioural and immune development. However, pullet development should not be viewed as ending at transfer, as development continues until around 30 weeks of age, meaning responsibility for optimum development is shared between the rearing and laying farmer. 

A consistent theme throughout this study was the importance of early-life development. Growth quality and flock evenness influence future productivity, health and longevity. The first weeks of life play a critical role in the developing gastrointestinal tract, immune system and microbiome, with long-term consequences for disease resilience and performance. Behavioural traits associated with feather pecking, fearfulness and ranging are also influenced by the rearing environment during the first 10 weeks of life. 

The first 10 weeks, shapes the next 100

Five key recommendations emerged from this Nuffield Scholarship. 

1. Prioritise growth quality and flock uniformity rather than transfer weight. 
2. Maximise early feed intake, gut development and disease resilience. 
3. Provide substrate and environmental complexity from day one to support behavioural, microbiome and skeletal development. 
4. Optimise lighting, feeder and environmental management throughout rear. 
5. Improve communication and transparency across the supply chain so pullet development is managed as a continuous process rather than separate production stages.

To produce longer-lived, more resilient laying hens capable of achieving high performance in cage-free systems, greater emphasis and subsequent reward must be placed on quality pullet development.