Pullets and Laying Hens Code of Practice - Progress Updates

February 2025

At the inaugural pullet and laying hen Code (Amendment) Committee meeting in September 2024, subcommittees were formed to develop proposed approaches for two of the Code’s three amendment topics. Throughout the fall, each subcommittee met virtually to develop viable amendments supported by strong rationale, including both scientific research and producer experience. By the end of November, both subcommittees had developed proposed approaches which were shared with the Code Committee (CC) during three online meetings. Committee members were given the opportunity to conduct internal stakeholder consultations in an effort to invite feedback and secure support for the proposed direction. Feedback was summarized in advance of the CC’s second in-person meeting, which was held in Ottawa on January 22,2025. All three amendment topics were discussed at the meeting and the Committee was able to arrive at consensus.

While the subcommittees were hard at work on the amendments, the Scientific Committee’s research report was working its way through the peer review process. It is expected that the report will be accepted by the peer review coordinator in early February, after which it will undergo copyediting before being translated.

The Public Comment Period is expected to start in March 2025, at which time the proposed amendments will be posted along with the Scientific Committee’s research report.

October 2024

The Code (Amendment) Committee and Scientific Panel met in Ottawa September 23-24, 2024. The Scientific Panel’s draft report was presented to the Code (Amendment) Committee and deliberations were based upon the conclusions from the draft report. Subsequently a specific workplan was developed with key milestones toward consensus in relation to the three amendment topics. As a reminder, Code amendments are limited in scope; more information is available here. 

Several online meetings are planned with another in-person meeting scheduled for early in 2025. The public comment period is now tentatively scheduled for March-April 2025. The Scientific Panel’s draft report is being prepared for peer review, which should be completed by year’s end.

August 2024

Following a 5-year review of the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pullets and Laying Hens, which was completed in 2022, the process to amend three specific sections of the 2017 Code has commenced. As an amendment, the process that needs to be followed is very similar to that which is used for a full Code update; however, the scope is limited to the topics that were identified by the Code Technical Panel (CTP) as needing to be reviewed and amended for various reasons. 

A three-member Scientific Panel was finalized in late March and has held five online meetings since early April to review and discuss literature that relates to the three Code amendment topics. The 15-member Code (Amendment) Committee was finalized in June and efforts are underway to orient Code Committee members to the process, and to schedule and organize the Committee’s first one-and-a half-day in-person meeting in the Fall, which will take place in Ottawa. In addition to providing the opportunity for Committee members to meet and to learn more about the amendment process, the first meeting will be used to introduce the Code amendment topics, and to provide a thorough description of the reasons why the topics were identified by the CTP as needing to be amended. This will include a presentation of the findings of the Scientific Panel. Next steps, including the development of a specific workplan with key milestones, will also be fine-tuned. 

For more information on how amendments differ from Code updates, visit www.nfacc.ca/code-development-process#amendments.