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By Alice McFarlane

Poultry research

New state-of-the-art poultry laying facility at USask

Mar 16, 2026 | 8:51 AM

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) will be home to a unique poultry research facility that will at the same time give the public a chance to see animal-welfare friendly housing systems.  

Construction on the $15.6 million poultry laying facility will begin next summer and should be completed in two or three years.  

Most of the funding is in place with $6.2 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation Fund, $3 million from Saskatchewan egg producers and another $1 million by the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and Bioresources.  

Dr. Karen Schwean-Lardner, researcher and professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, said there will be scientists from Arkansas and Purdue involved in her first project, which will be looking at light. 

“I’m going to have a physiologist from Purdue, and I’m going to have a veterinarian coming that specializes in these types of things from Arkansas, and I’m going to have another physiologist coming from Maryland. How cool is that?” Schwean-Lardner said.

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As part of new guidelines by the Egg Farmers of Canada, “conventional” housing systems for chickens will be phased out on Canadian farms by 2036. Schwean-Lardner said conventional cages have positives and negatives for the chickens.  

“You could see a sick bird and be able to do something with that bird. You could see how the birds were doing. You can see all of that. The poop falls through, and it goes out every day. So, the environment stays very nice. They were brought in for some good reasons, but you also saw that it’s a small space with no perches. Birds go up when they are afraid or when they’re stressed. They like to go to perches. There’s none in there. They don’t have a place to forage,” she said. “So, yes, it’s animal welfare. It’s doing what’s right for Canadian agriculture and for Canadian consumers and birds.”  

Canadian egg farms operate under strict biosecurity measures with no visitors. This facility will have special viewing rooms will be available for public groups — from board meetings to schoolchildren — to see the chickens living at the facility. These viewing areas will allow consumers to directly see how housing systems affect birds, without risking biosecurity on farms.  

“That room is for you to come host a meeting if you want to, or a Grade 5 classroom, or a university class, or the consumer that’s buying eggs in the store and wants to understand one versus the other housing system, come see us. They can see a free-run system, they can see a free-range system, they can see everything. It helps to connect Canadian consumers to agriculture, and that’s so exciting,” she said. 

Research at the new facility will also have a production focus.  

“In a free run system, if a bird lays an egg onto the floor, that’s generally thrown out. Well, what can we do with lighting systems so that doesn’t happen? And so, then we increase the number of eggs that actually get to market,” she said. “Or we look at nutrition. How can we use products like Dr. Adewale right now is using apple pomace. It’s the leftovers of apple juice, and she’s using it to feed birds to get rid of a product that’s otherwise thrown out. Or how can we improve digestibility or make that life of the bird a healthier, better-balanced life.”  

The new facility will be nearly 24,000 square feet and have examples of three systems including enriched housing, free run and free range which will allow birds to wander outside. 

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com