26 Sept 2025
Exploring the Frontiers of Poultry Science at the Poultry Academy Malaysia 2025
During the second week of September, I was lucky to have been invited by EW Nutrition to their poultry conference in Malaysia. I’d never been to Malaysia, nor had I had the opportunity to attend a work conference in such an exotic location.
The speaker lineup looked great, with a good diversity of topics ranging from the global economic outlook for the animal protein market, the roles of energy, organic acids and antioxidants in poultry nutrition, the importance of biosecurity and how to do it right, coccidiosis control, the physiology of egg formation, egg composition and egg/shell quality and much more. I was pleased to see one of my lecturers from vet school was the keynote speaker – Dr. Steve Leeson – a familiar Canadian accent in the room.
As with many conferences, the amount of information delivered in such a short timeframe (2 days), was overwhelming, overshadowed only by the amount of food that I ate. Shuttling between the inside of the conference hall and the dining hall bursting at the seams with mouth watering food, I can’t say that I was aware I was in Malaysia until I walked outside on the first evening to enjoy the pool-side banquet, and was hit by the humidity. It was a welcome change from winter in Christchurch, and we enjoyed some live music and good banter, beers in hand, on the roof-top deck.
^^A great place to meet colleagues in the industry
I want to share a few of my light bulb moments, tidbits of information that I found really interesting, being new to this industry.
On the poultry industry and economic market:
Poultry continues to grow above market growth as pork and beef slow.
Africa Swine Fever and Avian Influenza are inextricably linked: as prices of pork rise, consumption of poultry meat increases, and vice versa.
Male chick culling is banned in parts of Europe and trials are underway for alternatives (my favourite was the GMO method of splicing in a glowing jellyfish gene to make the male embryos glow)
1 egg = 6g protein; the most affordable protein source.
Eggs and poultry production have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions by livestock species.
Globally, 20% of egg production is now cage-free and trending upwards.
On farm management:
Outdoor systems increase energy costs because birds are expending energy outside = the emotional value of food.
Stand-down periods between farms are not necessary if shoes and clothing are changed and hands are washed. Showering is a bonus. There is no additional value other than discouraging visitors.
Cleaning is more important than disinfection.
Best time to handle an adult laying hen to cause the least damage to egg production is between 11am – 12pm, never in mid-afternoon as the egg is in production in the oviduct. Causes ‘belted eggs’.
Most important factors for feed conversion for broilers: pellet quality, environmental temperature, stocking density, lighting.
Genetics are key to feed efficiency in poultry, and feed efficiency is a key component of sustainability.
Optimum water pH for broilers is 5.5-6, which results in decreased mortalities.
The ‘sweet spot’ to sustain egg laying is 12 hours of light. Optimum hours of light for broilers is 20 hours.
On poultry more generally:
A bird’s digestive system has matured by 12 days of age, which is 30% of the life of a broiler.
Vaccination and immunization are not the same things.
The body weight of a broiler at 7 days is a predictor of their weight at 35 days.
Yolk develops over 8 days.
Broiler-breeders multiple ovulate (produce double yolkers) if you give her too much energy. Layers double ovulate due to a hormonal imbalance between estrogen and androgen and is most common in young layers.
^^Absorbing all the interesting information
