Following the first face-to-face meeting of the impulse farms in November 2022 at Anja Lindner's LindenGut, the second network meeting of the impulse poultry farms took place at the end of April 2023 to exchange technical information and visit an impulse farm. 

The network meeting was opened by the Poultry Office, represented by Katja Kulke and Alina Lückemann from the Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture, with a presentation of their work. In the subsequent round of introductions, all farm managers had the opportunity to introduce themselves and their farms. Some of those present already knew each other from the first face-to-face meeting, but there were also some new faces in the group. This led to an open exchange of ideas.

Christiane Keppler kicked off the technical input with the topic "Extended service life for laying hens – what needs to be considered?". The topic of extended service life is very relevant for many farmers due to the economic situation. This led to a lively exchange and discussions on a technical level between the farmers and a lot of thematic input from Ms Keppler. In the evening, there was a discussion on the current situation in laying hen husbandry.

The second day began with a presentation of the MobiWohl project by Nadine Lang and Katrin Dorkewitz. The MobiWohl project focuses on the keeping of laying hens in mobile housing with regard to animal welfare, animal health, but also the environment, marketing and public acceptance. After the morning's input, the group set off to visit Fabian Häde and the Leonhard Häde model poultry farm. Fabian Häde is the manager of the family business, which has been in existence since 1927. The farm has been organically managed since 1975 and has a long tradition of egg production. Fabian raises his own animals, markets eggs, but also deals with the rearing, keeping and marketing of brother roosters. A newer approach of his is the keeping of dual-purpose chickens.

Author: Gesa Krone, FiBL Deutschland e.V.