Source: NCSU COLLEGE OF AG & LIFE SCIENCES, 8/10/20


Ken Anderson is a good egg. And it’s not just us saying so: The NC State University poultry science professor and extension specialist won the “Good Egg” designation from the North Carolina Egg Association in 2017, and in the ensuing years, the accolades have continued to roll in.

The awards confirm the impact he’s had in finding and sharing research-based solutions with egg producers in North Carolina and beyond.

Throughout his 30-year tenure at NC State, Anderson has overseen a layer management research program that’s now larger than any other in the world. Based at the Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury, the program delivers information that helps growers and others understand how different management strategies, physical environments and strains of chickens interact to influence egg quality.

Anderson’s most recent recognition came this year. The Poultry Science Association — an organization of about 1,800 educators, scientists, extension specialists, industry researchers, producers and others — selected him as one of five new fellows. He also won its 2020 Evonik Award for Achievement in Poultry Science.

Last year, Anderson received the Charles Beard Research Excellence Award from the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association. The award recognized his research and extension efforts related to adding heat and carbon dioxide to a process known as ventilation shutdown. Ventilation shutdown-plus is designed to quickly reduce suffering when large populations of chickens and turkeys are depopulated due to a foreign animal disease outbreak.

This process is considered a tremendous improvement over previous methods of controlling highly pathogenic animal diseases. The American Veterinary Medical Association incorporated the process in its manual on depopulation methods, and the process has been used effectively in other states to stop the spread of poultry diseases.

Anderson is also known for his work related to shell-egg processing to improve food safety and for improved methods of inducing simultaneous molting in hens. Molting is the natural process that causes chickens to shed, then regrow, feathers. In commercial U.S. egg production, it was once common for growers to withdraw feed to induce molting as a way to improve egg production and quality.

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