Poultry Teaching & Research Center

The PTRC's mission is to provide facilities and resources for the education of animal science students, and to conduct basic and applied research that will benefit the poultry producers of Michigan.

Farm Manager

Kevin Turner

Faculty Coordinator

Dr. Janice Siegford

Location

5252 E. Jolly Road
Lansing, MI 48910
517-203-6564

The Poultry Teaching and Research Center is located on the south side of Jolly Rd between College Rd and Hagadorn Rd.

Downloadable Farm Fact Sheet (updated April 2024)

Visitor Information

At this time, our farm is closed to visitors except for egg customers. Eggs are $5/flat of 30 eggs while supplies last. Customers may pick up eggs between 9:00am - 4:00pm 7 days per week. Supplies are very limited and egg collection schedule varies day to day.

About the Center

Mission

The Poultry Teaching and Research Center's Mission is two-fold. First to provide facilities and resources for the education of animal science students interested in Poultry Science as a career and second to conduct basic and applied research that will benefit the poultry producers of the State of Michigan.

Facility Description

The Poultry Research Farm consists of a service building, 5 pole barn type buildings, the Turkey Facility, the laying Hen facility, and two storage sheds. The service building contains office space, shower and restroom facilities, egg storage cooler, a tool room and garage.

Building #2 contains 32 - 5ft. by 7ft. floor pens and 8 – 10ft. by 15ft. pens that can be used for broiler or layer research. It also houses an Incubation room with 5 Petersime incubators.

Building #3 is our pullet facility. It contains 14 – 15ft. by 20 ft. pens capable of raising approximately 4600 pullets from day of age to 17 weeks.

Building #4 has 5 rooms that contains caging that can house birds from day of age through laying. This building currently houses our fertile egg flock along with other birds that are used for teaching.

Building #5 has 2 - 17ft by 30 ft. environmentally controlled rooms that is mainly used for battery work.

Building #8 has multiple 17ft. by 38ft. rooms. Currently it houses the farm bagged feed room, a parts wash room, the Avian science club turkey fundraising room and a room set up to teach non ruminant nutrition by raising broilers.

Turkey Facility contains 2 rooms each having 16 – 8 by 10 pens that can be used for either broiler or turkey research.

Laying hen facility has 12 rooms for research. Four rooms have Big Dutchman Avech II systems which is an enriched colony cage system. Four rooms have Big Dutchman Natura 60 systems, and four rooms have Big Dutchman Natura Step systems both these systems are aviary type systems.

 

Fertile Eggs

Please contact the farm manager for more details and place hatching egg orders at least one week in advance.

Current Research 

·     Strasburg, G, 2017. Influence of thermal challenge on turkey muscle development and meat quality

·     Karcher, D, 2018. Addressing keel bone fractures in laying hens housed in cage-free aviary systems using            nutrition and management interventions. Phase 1

·     Nielsen, B, 2019. Silicon supplementation to improve bone, cartilage and collagen health in broiler chickens.

·     Williams, Z, 2019. Composting of chickens using vertical mixer wagons.

·     Karcher, D, 2020. Addressing keel bone fractures in laying hens housed in cage-free aviary systems using          nutrition and management interventions. Phase 2