Perdue farmers present inventions to make chickens’ lives happier

WESTOVER, Md. –  On Friday, five farmers let their creative side run wild as they came up with new innovative inventions to enrich the lives of their chickens.
The inventions ranged from chicken trees to double roosting ramps, and farmers got the chance to show them off to judges and explain why their invention positively impacts the chicken experience. This is all part of Perdue Farm’s latest animal welfare initiative to change the way it raises chickens, and poultry officials tell 47 it’s critical that they give them the best life possible, in order to make a profit.

“Well cared for healthy chickens end up being the best chicken. Farmers, the more they understand it their everyday life goes differently with chickens. They start to understand that this animal deserves my respect all of the time,” said Live Operations Senior Vice President for Perdue Farms, Bruce Stewart-Brown.

This was one of the first few chicken enrichment innovation contests Perdue has held so far, and they say if all goes well they’ll continue to hold more of these types of events in the future. The 1st place winner of Friday’s enrichment contest was the Carpenter family, and they’ll be taking home a prize of $5,000.