When Tenterfield, NSW, egg producer Tom Moore suspected there were better ways to raise egg laying birds, his wife Jo encouraged him to apply for a Nuffield scholarship, and spread his wings.
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Unlike the beef and cropping industries, which love to share knowledge at a field day, the profit-making trade wisdom among egg producers is as tightly held as a New England grazing enterprise.
Mr Moore succeeded in his wife's request and travelled to Europe where he found that the most successful birds were happy and healthy and - most importantly- able to express their natural characteristics, for good and bad.
In typical free-range laying operations the birds are often on a single level, on a slatted floor, which is removable to allow for cleaning. Life operates within a hierarchy controlled by bully birds who peck from their full height to subdue the others' advances, therefore affecting production.
"Birds have to be reminded of their order," notes Mr Moore. "And there is a problem in that birds only have a memory of around 50 individuals, so the reminders are repeated."
In Germany Mr Moore, an Englishmen by birth, found truly revolutionary indoor equipment that allowed dominant birds to fly up to the tallest perch where they could preen, and brood, leaving the least dominant birds in peace.
It's a simple concept, rooted in nature, but the design and layout of the equipment is critical. Many bugs had to be ironed out - a process which continues today.
Mr Moore's bird rearing shed is one of a very few in Australia, and as far as he knows, the only one offering aviary reared birds to the smaller customer. It was also the recent subject of a visit by Australian Eggs and Egg Farmers of Australia.
"When we did the business model, free-range egg production measured up," Mr Moore says. "It doesn't take up a lot of space and so we could afford the land. Things have changed a lot in that time so we decided to expand into rearing. This business model allows us to rear up to three batches of birds a year for ourselves and external customers and we have a system that is very drought resistant.
The imported equipment arrived in several shipping containers and was assembled in a purpose-built shed. Food and water is available on the lower levels of this vertical layout, with just water on the top, so those with a pecking problem must come down a level to access nutrition.
As a result body weight in the bossy birds is curbed while the slower-growing types catch up. In the end flock uniformity approaches 90 per cent in an industry where 80pc is regarded as acceptable.
It is one thing to raise egg-layers in a vertical space but quite another to make them fly.
Birds reared from chicks on the floor will struggle to learn to fully utilise the equipment as adults, so the vertical program requires that birds be raised in a similar environment from a very young age.
Tom and Jo Moore, calling themselves Moore Eggs, invested in a rearing barn because the crunched numbers just made sense.
"The future in this industry is going to be technical with telemetry, cameras and automation," Mr Moore says, pointing out the dawn to dusk variable lighting and automatically retracting outrigger perches that assist with putting birds to sleep inside one of three levels.
A growth chart on the monitoring display accurately shows weight gain - with subtle dips after a vaccination, for instance, that can help provide information for future management that will improve outcomes.
A weighing block accurately measures any bird that hops onto it but immediately deletes identical numbers to minimise repeated data.
Having them all sleep in the equipment at night allows the birds to defecate on rolling belts and minimises manure on the central floor - which is wider than designed, to allow for more room to fly.
However, vertically housed chooks must learn from the day after hatching how to use their wings and this is where Mr Moore's modern aviary shows how an integrated fowl operation can better control its outcomes.
"I can't buy an aviary reared pullet for a start," he says, referring to both Hyline and ISA varieties. He and his wife Jo farmed ISA in the early days but switched to Hyline to try the alternative.
"We've found Hylines are a lot quieter," Mr Moore says.
The tiered equipment can be adjusted to fully open or remain partially closed, and allows for different bird groups to be managed separately with efficient and specific vaccinations - particularly expensive injection vaccines that are not always required.
"If hens are not well vaccinated prior to laying then you may have wrecked a perfectly good bird," Mr Moore says.
"At 6 weeks old for example, we apply eye drops which in a floor reared shed is half a day off feed and water. With this system we can isolate birds in metre-long segments of the aviary and do the job carefully, keeping everyone on feed and water, and reducing bird stress."
Hygiene is an important part of the farm and particularly so for the birds. Mr Moore only visits the sheds after showering and donning fresh clothes. He keeps visits to the rearing shed at a minimum - about once a day - and relies on the automated processes to keep the birds well cared for.
"The critical part in this industry," he says, "is all about the one percent increases in production, the margins are tight, you need every percent you can get."
