Welfare boot camp for pullets

“The first batch was great!” The Glicksman family – father Yona and his sons Benny and Moshe – from Gedera, 50 kilometres south of Tel Aviv, are perfectly happy with their new rearing aviary. The project was a debut for the whole of Israel: in Matzliha, the long-standing Big Dutchman customer installed the first cage-free aviary for pullet rearing on Israeli territory: Natura Primus. The modern animal welfare system can house around 80,000 birds. Two more, identical projects are in the planning stages.

“The construction period was anything but normal,” remembers Benny Glicksman, looking back at the erection of the building and assembly of the system during the coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately, the highly praised Big Dutchman network worked as well as ever, even in this exceptional situation.

“The staff of our Israeli agency Agrotop were an indispensable help,” says general manager Martin Prang. The Israelis actively supported the assembly process of the Natura Primus system. Agrotop realises livestock construction projects, one of them being an ambitious Big Dutchman project for the Glicksman family four years ago, which is why Agrotop was asked to assist with the aviary project as well. 

Professional and digital support for the project was available from faraway Germany. “For the entire construction period, experts helped with words and deeds, via WhatsApp and videoconference,” explains Prang.

The front part of the barn is equipped with a dust chamber: fans blow the dust that leaves the building against a wall. The dust drops down and can be swept away.

Successful debut for the pullet rearing aviary

The Glicksman family have been rearing pullets since the early 1990s. Nevertheless, they ventured into uncharted territory with the new project in Matzliha. “The first batch is the first time in the company’s history that we have sold pullets reared in an aviary system,” says Benny Glicksman.

The Israelis took the decision to expand their business after multiple visits to Germany and the Netherlands, where they extensively researched cage-free pullet rearing. Their research included farm visits.

Natura: we are family

Selecting Natura Primus was an easy choice. Big Dutchman has been developing aviaries for egg production for more than 30 years. The Natura family consists of more than 20 aviary models for barn egg production and free range egg production.

At the beginning of this year, the poultry equipment supplier from Vechta in Germany even hit a magical mark: more than 100 million laying hen places worldwide have been equipped with the Natura aviary, which is considered to be especially animal-friendly.

One aviary model is called Natura Primus, used to train pullets for egg production in a layer aviary. The young hens learn how to hop and jump, and when they moved to the layer house later on, they already know how to use perches and approach aids. Thanks to this training, the birds start smoothly into the laying phase: they immediately know their way around the different areas of the aviary (eating, scratching, resting).

Natura Primus boot camp: the pullets learn how to hop and jump, but also how to perch.

Additional Natura Primus features:

• easy access à easy inspection of the birds;
• 3 tiers;
• available in two widths (1600 mm and 1866 mm) and as raised version;
• hinged-type partition every 2.40 m (optionally every 1.20 m) to reduce stress during moving in and out;
• height-adjustable perches and drinkers;
• automatically folding approach perches;
• high corrosion resistance.

Welfare boot camp - moving pictures!