Model Rooster

This image is focused on a charming breeder rooster alongside breeder hens in the Poultry Research Centre facilities, South Campus, University of Alberta. The precision feeding system in the background is a research system developed at the University of Alberta and utilized to precision feed chickens housed in a free-run system. The research tool allowed us to conduct experiments with controlled body weight and feed consumption, having high-resolution data collection, decreasing the number of birds required per experiment, and being a potential device for future sustainable agriculture production. This picture represents part of my Ph.D. trials in body weight optimization of meat-type chickens for optimal reproductive performance. Chickens are curious animals and this one was happily posing for the camera.