Orbem joins Omelette Project to Promote Laying Hens’ Longevity

Interreg North-West Europe aims to keep hens longer and ensure their welfare.

Jun 11, 2024

To ensure future-proof sustainable and resilient egg production in North-West Europe (NEW), integrating hen longevity with animal health and welfare will become a vital necessity. Both territorial and common EU challenges amplify the need for longevity. The implementation of keeping hens longer while maintaining animal health and welfare in combination with ensured profitability is less evident. Orbem, together with 10 project partners, is eager to tackle these challenges.

Promoting the longevity of laying hens in practice

Through transnational cooperation in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Germany, OMELETTE brings together multidisciplinary knowledge and skills needed to jointly overcome obstacles and stimulate the adoption of hen longevity in the field by:

Reducing disparities in innovative capacity
Capitalizing on innovative techniques and customizing them to the poultry sector
Integrating and reinforcing smart digitalization
Employing methods to monitor hen behavior and track the entire flock in real-time
Focusing on continuous, structural improvement.

The above objectives will lead to a more proactive management that directly improves hen longevity.

Long term impact

Knowledge and techniques will feed the co-creation of a cross-border Longevity Action Plan that will be demonstrated on different pilot farms in the NWE region representing specific territorial situations and supported by impact analyses.

Focused training schemes and diverse communication will be targeted at current and future farmers and their advisors to increase knowledge and change behavior so that sustainable hen longevity will become standard practice in a future-proof resilient NWE egg production. In addition, OMELETTE will close the gap between farmers and local authorities and between farmers and consumers. Demonstrations at pilot locations targeted at authorities or consumers will increase knowledge of the origin of eggs, of the challenges but also of the efforts from the sector, leading to a raised awareness and facilitation of dialogue.

Project Partners — Countries

EPC (Experimental Poultry Centre) — Belgium
KULeuven — Belgium
Pehestat — Belgium
Vencomatic — The Netherlands
HATO — The Netherlands
ORBEM — Germany
HSOS — Germany
UBERN — Switzerland
CARB (Chambre régionale d’agriculture Bretagne) — France
INNOZH — France
ANSES (Agence nationale sécurité sanitaire, alimentation, environnement et travail) — France

Duration

The project started in November 2023 and runs until May 2028.

Budget — EU funding

• Total Budget: €6,325,029

• EU Funding: €3,693,018

Project’s Website

Further information and updates can be found on the project’s website.

Contact

Jimena Saldivar

[email protected]

Be Part of the Omelette Project!

Orbem has teamed up with other partners across the North Western Europe region to work on the Omelette project, with the main objective to optimize and deploy solutions that improve hen welfare and stimulate longevity.

Hatcheries that participate with us will have the opportunity to obtain detailed information on how to optimize their operations in coordination with in-ovo sexing technology to ensure the best possible outcome for their processes and for the one-day-old chicks.

By participating, you’ll gain exclusive insights to fine-tune your in-ovo technology, optimize production, and contribute to a more sustainable future for hen welfare.

Ask to hatcheries

To achieve this, we ask the hatcheries that collaborate with us to allow us to come to your facilities and share existing information on current processes.

Technical requirements for participation:

Location within the North West Europe region
Minimum volume – 1 million day-old chicks per year
In-ovo sexing technology in operation

Contact

Jimena Saldivar

[email protected]

About the Omelette Project

Through transnational cooperation in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Germany, OMELETTE brings together multidisciplinary knowledge and skills needed to jointly overcome obstacles and stimulate the adoption of hen longevity in the field by reducing disparities in innovative capacity, capitalising on innovative techniques and customising them to the poultry sector.