Injurious pecking in organic turkey fattening-effects of husbandry and feeding on injuries and plumage damage of a slow- (Auburn) and a fast-growing (B.U.T.6) genotype

Injuries and plumage damage (PD) are important indicators of welfare. First priority in turkey fattening is to reduce injurious pecking, which includes aggressive pecking (agonistic behavior) and additionally severe feather pecking (SFP) and cannibalism with their multifactorial reasons. Still, there are few studies available evaluating different genotypes for their welfare status under organic conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of genotype and husbandry with 100% organic feeding (2 variants with different riboflavin content: V1 and V2) on injuries and PD. During rearing nonbeaktrimmed male turkeys of a slow- (Auburn, n = 256) and fast-growing (B.U.T.6, n = 128) genotype were kept in 2 indoor housing systems (without environmental enrichment (EE) = H1-, n = 144 and with EE = H2+, n = 240). During fattening 13 animals per pen of H2+ were relocated to a free-range system (H3 MS, n = 104). EE included pecking stones, elevated seating platforms and silage feeding. The study included five 4-wk feeding phases. At the end of each phase, injuries and PD were scored to assess animal welfare. Injury scores ranged from 0 (=no damage) to 3 (=severe damage) and PD from 0 to 4. Injurious pecking was observed from the 8th week onward (injuries: 16.5% and PD: 31.4%). Binary logistic regression models showed that both indicators were affected by genotype (each P < 0.001), husbandry (each P < 0.001), feeding (injuries P = 0.004; PD P = 0.003), and age (each P < 0.001). Auburn showed less injuries and PD than B.U.T.6. H1- had the fewest injuries and PD for Auburn animals compared to H2+ or H3 MS. In summary, the use of alternative genotypes (Auburn) in organic fattening improved welfare, but keeping them in free-range systems or in husbandry with EE, does not lead to a reduction of injurious pecking. Therefore, further studies are needed with more and changing enrichment materials, further management measures, changes in housing structure, and even more intensive animal care.

Effects of litter and additional enrichment elements on the occurrence of feather pecking in pullets and laying hens - A focused review

Severe feather pecking (SFP) is a serious problem in the egg production industry with regard to animal welfare and performance. The multifactorial causes of SFP are discussed in the areas of genetics, feeding, husbandry, stable climate and management. Several studies on the influence of manipulable material on the incidence of SFP in different environments and housing systems have been performed. This review presents current knowledge on the effects of litter and additional enrichment elements on the occurrence of SFP in pullets and laying hens. Because SFP is associated with foraging and feed intake behaviour, the provision of manipulable material in the husbandry environment is an approach that is intended to reduce the occurrence of SFP by adequate exercise of these behaviours. As shown in the literature, the positive effect of enrichment and litter substrate on SFP in a low‐complexity cage environment is evident. On the other hand, consistent results have not been reported on the influence of additional enrichment material in housing systems with litter substrate, which represent the most common type of husbandry in Northwestern Europe. Thus, further research is recommended.

Severe feather pecking (SFP) is a serious problem in the egg production industry with regard to animal welfare and performance. This review presents current knowledge on the effects of litter and additional enrichment elements on the occurrence of SFP in pullets and laying hens. While the positive effect of enrichment and litter substrate on SFP in a low complexity cage environment is evident, consistent results have not been reported on the influence of additional enrichment material in housing systems with litter substrate.

Welfare Consequences of Omitting Beak Trimming in Barn Layers

Beak trimming is used worldwide as a method of reducing the damage to feathers and skin caused by injurious pecking in laying hens. However, beak trimming also causes some welfare issues as trimming the beak results in pain and sensory loss. Due to this dilemma, there is an ongoing discussion in several European countries about whether to ban beak trimming. In this study, we investigated the welfare consequences of keeping layers with intact beaks and examined for links between injurious pecking damage and keel bone damage on an individual level. A study was conducted on 10 commercial farms housing laying hens in the barn system. Each farm participated with a flock of beak-trimmed hens (T) and a flock of non-trimmed (NT) hens that were visited around 32 and 62 weeks of age. During visits, the condition of plumage, skin, feet, and keel bone of 100 hens was assessed. Mortality was recorded by the producers. NT flocks had a lower prevalence of hens with good plumage condition around 32 weeks of age (94.1 vs. 99.6%, P < 0.001) and a higher prevalence of hens with poor plumage condition at 62 weeks of age (63.6 vs. 15.2%, P < 0.001) compared with T flocks. The prevalence of hens with keel bone deviations, with both keel bone fractures and deviations and with body wounds, was higher in NT flocks compared with T flocks at both ages (P < 0.001). Accumulated mortality from placement to end of production tended to be higher in NT flocks compared with T flocks (14.2 vs. 8.6%; P = 0.06). The prevalence of keel bone damage was higher among hens with poor plumage condition than hens with moderate/good plumage condition (31.5 vs. 22.2%; P < 0.001). Thus, omitting beak trimming had negative consequences for the condition of plumage, skin, and keel bone, and tended to increase mortality, highlighting the risk of reduced welfare when keeping layers with intact beaks. In addition, injurious pecking damage was found to be positively linked to keel bone damage. The causal relation is unknown, but we propose that fearfulness is an important factor.

Relationships between range access as monitored by radio frequency identification technology, fearfulness, and plumage damage in free-range laying hens

Severe feather-pecking (SFP), a particularly injurious behaviour in laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus), is thought to be negatively correlated with range use in free-range systems. In turn, range use is thought to be inversely associated with fearfulness, where fearful birds may be less likely to venture outside. However, very few experiments have investigated the proposed association between range use and fearfulness. This experiment investigated associations between range use (time spent outside), fearfulness, plumage damage, and BW. Two pens of 50 ISA Brown laying hens (n=100) were fitted with radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders (contained within silicone leg rings) at 26 weeks of age. Data were then collected over 13 days. A total of 95% of birds accessed the outdoor run more than once per day. Birds spent an average duration of 6.1 h outside each day over 11 visits per bird per day (51.5 min per visit). The top 15 and bottom 15 range users (n=30), as determined by the total time spent on the range over 13 days, were selected for study. These birds were tonic immobility (TI) tested at the end of the trial and were feather-scored and weighed after TI testing. Birds with longer TI durations spent less time outside (P=0.01). Plumage damage was not associated with range use (P=0.68). The small group sizes used in this experiment may have been conducive to the high numbers of birds utilising the outdoor range area. The RFID technology collected a large amount of data on range access in the tagged birds, and provides a potential means for quantitatively assessing range access in laying hens. The present findings indicate a negative association between fearfulness and range use. However, the proposed negative association between plumage damage and range use was not supported. The relationships between range use, fearfulness, and SFP warrant further research.