Charlotte Cole
Based in North Yorkshire with my Husband and two labradors, I work as a poultry vet caring for hundreds of millions of birds a year, notably layers, layer pullets and broilers across the North East of England.
I grew up immersed in my parents’ business, a kennels and cattery, in Cumbria before undertaking a non-traditional route into veterinary. Starting with a year in London, followed by five years at University of Liverpool. My interest in poultry flourished and upon graduation I started with St Davids Poultry Team where I enjoy using evidence-based knowledge sharing to work with farmers to achieve their performance goals, ensuring a quality product for consumers, improving bird welfare and industry sustainability.
My personal interest in learning has grown exponentially since working within the poultry industry and I am continually blown away by how fascinatingly intertwined our world is. I am grateful to have been awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, enabling me to explore the interaction between the pullet environment and the outcomes in laying hens.
Preparing Pullets for the Future of the UK Egg Industry
BEMB Trust
Study Overview
Sustainability within the UK egg industry can be improved by producing longer lived birds which produce more eggs. This is dependent on disease resilience, persistency of lay and good feather cover which are more challenging in free range environments, especially with the potential for fully beaked birds. There is growing cross-species evidence that infant development significantly impacts health outcomes in adults and chickens are no exception. Pullet body weights and evenness correlates with flock performance and early pullet behaviour impacts adult layer hen behaviours. Therefore, I will explore global management practices which aid pullet performance, microbiome development and layer behaviour as well as barriers and incentives for collaboration between rearing and laying farms.