Role of loose feathers on the development of feather pecking in laying hens

Formation of the Pecking Order during Small-Scale Floor Feeding in Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris)

Helmeted guinea fowl are social animals and only males form a hierarchy in the wild. Non-cage husbandry systems benefit the reproductive health of guinea fowl; however, there are concerns that the feeding duration of subordinate individuals is insufficient. Here, the pecking orders formed during small-scale floor feeding were investigated. There were three experimental categories: male-only (four males), female-only (four females), and mixed category (two males, two females). Each experimental category was set up three times and included different individuals. Behaviors were recorded for 130 h 52 min, 89 h 11 min, and 98 h 46 min in the male, female, and mixed categories, respectively. Male helmeted guinea fowls pecked other males, whereas females exhibited little pecking behavior. Male pecking behavior was not homogeneous within each experimental group. It has been suggested that males form a pecking order, whereas females have no hierarchy under small-scale floor-feeding conditions, as observed in the wild. In most cases, on the first day the number of pecking behaviors was low 20 min after the start of the experiment. The three subordinate individuals in the mixed category had little time to feed, whereas the other birds in the mixed category and all helmeted guinea fowl in the male- and female-only categories had longer feeding durations. We suggest that helmeted guinea fowl may be reared under small-scale floor feeding, and that the health of males should be managed. However, rearing females and males under small-scale floor feeding conditions should be avoided. This study contributes to improving the welfare of helmeted guinea fowl reared under small-scale floor feeding.

Adaptational changes of behaviors in hens introduced to a multi-tier system

This study was conducted to investigate behavioral changes in laying hens (Hy-Line Brown) after transfer to a multi-tier system from the floor system and to examine their production performance. The hens were randomly divided into two groups and were allocated to the multi-tier system and the floor system at a commercial farm. Behavior of the laying hens was recorded by CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras and a digital video recorder. The data were scanned every 2 min to obtain an instantaneous behavioral sample or were immediately counted whenever the hens exhibited a designated behavior. Behavior changed dramatically during the first seven days. Egg production was higher in the multi-tier system, while cracked and dirty eggs were more frequent in the floor system (p < 0.05). No differences in mortality rate or egg quality were observed between the groups. In conclusion, the hens needed at least seven days to adapt to the multi-tier system. The multi-tier system was more efficient than the floor system in terms of production performance.

Development of a prognostic tool for the occurrence of feather pecking and cannibalism in laying hens

In July 2015, a German voluntary decree stipulated that the keeping of beak-trimmed laying hens after the 1st of January 2017 will no longer be permitted. Simultaneously, the present project was initiated to validate a newly developed prognostic tool for laying hen farmers to forecast, at the beginning of a laying period, the probability of future problems with feather pecking and cannibalism in their flock. For this purpose, we used a computer-based prognostic tool in form of a questionnaire that was easy and quick to complete and facilitated comparisons of different flocks. It contained various possible risk factors that were classified into 3 score categories (1 = "no need for action," 2 = "intermediate need for action," 3 = "instant need for action"). For the validation of this tool, 43 flocks of 41 farms were examined twice, at the beginning of the laying period (around the 20th wk of life) and around the 67th wk of life. At both visits, the designated investigators filled out the questionnaire and assessed the plumage condition and the skin lesions (as indicators of occurrence of feather pecking and cannibalism) of 50 laying hens of each flock. The average prognostic score of the first visit was compared with the existence of feather pecking and cannibalism in each flock at the end of the laying period. The results showed that the prognostic score was negatively correlated with the plumage score (r = -0.32; 95% confidence interval [CI]: [-0.56; -0.02]) and positively correlated with the skin lesion score (r = 0.38; 95% CI: [0.09; 0.61]). These relationships demonstrate that a better prognostic score was associated with a better plumage and skin lesion score. After performing a principal component analysis on the single scores, we found that only 6 components are sufficient to obtain highly sensitive and specific prognostic results. Thus, the data of this analysis should be used for creating applicable software for use on laying hen farms.

Animal welfare: a social networks perspective

Social network theory provides a useful tool to study complex social relationships in animals. The possibility to look beyond dyadic interactions by considering whole networks of social relationships allows researchers the opportunity to study social groups in more natural ways. As such, network-based analyses provide an informative way to investigate the factors influencing the social environment of group-living animals, and so has direct application to animal welfare. For example, animal groups in captivity are frequently disrupted by separations, reintroductions and/or mixing with unfamiliar individuals and this can lead to social stress and associated aggression. Social network analysis ofanimal groups can help identify the underlying causes of these socially-derived animal welfare concerns. In this review we discuss how this approach can be applied, and how it could be used to identify potential interventions and solutions in the area of animal welfare.

Genetic parameters for feather pecking and aggressive behavior in a large F2-cross of laying hens using generalized linear mixed models

Feather pecking and aggressive pecking is a well-known problem in egg production. In the present study, genetic parameters for 4 feather-pecking-related traits were estimated using generalized linear mixed models. The traits were bouts of feather pecking delivered (FPD), bouts of feather pecking received (FPR), bouts of aggressive pecking delivered (APD), and bouts of aggressive pecking received (APR). An F2-design was established from 2 divergent selected founder lines. The lines were selected for low or high feather pecking for 10 generations. The number of F2 hens was 910. They were housed in pens with around 40 birds. Each pen was observed in 21 sessions of 20 min, distributed over 3 consecutive days. An animal model was applied that treated the bouts observed within 20 min as repeated observations. An over-dispersed Poisson distribution was assumed for observed counts and the link function was a log link. The model included a random animal effect, a random permanent environment effect, and a random day-by-hen effect. Residual variance was approximated on the link scale by the delta method. The results showed a heritability around 0.10 on the link scale for FPD and APD and of 0.04 for APR. The heritability of FPR was zero. For all behavior traits, substantial permanent environmental effects were observed. The approximate genetic correlation between FPD and APD (FPD and APR) was 0.81 (0.54). Egg production and feather eating records were collected on the same hens as well and were analyzed with a generalized linear mixed model, assuming a binomial distribution and using a probit link function. The heritability on the link scale for egg production was 0.40 and for feather eating 0.57. The approximate genetic correlation between FPD and egg production was 0.50 and between FPD and feather eating 0.73. Selection might help to reduce feather pecking, but this might result in an unfavorable correlated selection response reducing egg production. Feather eating and feather pecking are genetically correlated and this needs further investigation.