Three experiments were carrie out to evaluate the influence of cage density on the performance of 25- to 84-week-old laying hens. Forty hundred Lohmann-LSL layers were distributed in cages (100x40x 45x50cm) according to a completely randomized experimental design with split plot in time.Three treatments (10, 12, or 14 hens per cage, corresponding, to 450, 375, …
The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effects of cage floor and cage density on stress parameters of …
Stress and diseases have the potential to influence the deposition of eggshell pigmentation during egg formation. Therefore, defining the shell color of eggs on a daily basis could be a representative method for monitoring stress or health status of a flock and maintaining good performance. A novel way of measuring eggshell color based on visible-near …
Magnocellular neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus containing arginine vasotocin (AVT) project to the posterior pituitary and release the peptide peripherally to target tissues. Parvocellular neurons contain either corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), AVT, or both neuropeptides and project to the median eminence. Corticotropin-releasing hormone and AVT are then transported to the anterior pituitary where they bind …
Besides the challenges of mortality and litter disposal, the poultry industry must find economical means of disposing of laying hens that have outlived their productive lives. Because spent hens have low market value and disposing of them by composting and burial is often infeasible, finding alternative disposal methods that are environmentally secure is prudent. The …
This study aimed at studying alternative methods to induce molting and to compare them with the conventional forced-molting method (fasting). In the experiment, 420 70-week-old layers were used. The total experimental period was 140 days. Molting was induced during the first 28 days, when birds were submitted to the experimental treatments, and bird performance and …
1. In a pen study, NH3 flux estimates were performed when clean wheat straw or wood shavings were used as …
The objective is to show that it is possible to estimate facility demand of laying hens with discrete-event modelling. This …
Social relationships in domestic fowl are commonly assumed to rely on social recognition and its pre-requisite, discrimination of group-mates. If this is true, then the unnatural physical and social environments in which commercial laying hens are typically housed, when compared with those in which their progenitor species evolved, may compromise social function with consequent implications …
Animal welfare is usually assessed by measuring animals’ responses to different environments or procedures. The alternative approach examines animal decision making, assuming that even domestic animals in artificial environments are able to integrate all relevant inputs and select in their own best interests. These two approaches to animal welfare assessment have been pursued largely in …
Methods available to assess animal welfare at farm level are based on a range of welfare parameters, which can be divided into two categories, environment-based and animal-based parameters. The first category describes features of the environment and management, which can be considered prerequisites for welfare. The second category records animals’ responses to that particular environment …
The field of applied animal behaviour science has seen significant changes since David Wood-Gush and others began to study the behaviour of domesticated animals in the 1950s. This paper looks at these changes in order to provide a perspective on where the science has come from and where it might be going. Applied behaviour science …
Humane care is best defined as maintaining husbandry procedures in keeping with the traits which are species-specific to the animal farmed. It must be evaluated in relation to the ethogram of the species, and not to anthropomorphic human feelings about animal care. If humane care is pursued, some compatability may be found between what the …
Newly hatched chicks are routinely subjected to varying durations of transport shortly after hatching. Because little is known about the effects of this putative stressor on behavioural development, the present experiment tested for the effects of a simulated long transport-like treatment during the first day of life in two strains of laying hen chicks on …
1. Contaminated chicken meat remains an internationally important vehicle for human infection with Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. In addition, the last 20 years has seen an international pandemic of human salmonellosis caused by the contamination of eggs with Salmonella Enteritidis. 2. It has been a long held scientific view that Campylobacter spp. and most, if …
Discoveries in behavior and welfare science have improved the health and well-being of egg laying flocks of chickens. The objectives of this review are to highlight research findings in genetics, health, environment, molting, morphological alterations, euthanasia, handling during depopulation, transportation, and harvesting to improve poultry welfare and to provide examples of additional opportunities to continue …
When hens kept for commercial egg production reach the end of their economically viable life span, they are usually transported to a processing plant for conversion into meat products. In this article, we review methods used in Canada and the United States for the catching and removing of these “spent” hens from the layer house …
This review starts with a brief outline of poultry behaviour and biology and a description of the present laying hen farming situation in Italy. Moreover, it points out the situation of EU legislation currently in effect for laying hen welfare. It then reviews the main welfare issues of layer farming. The following aspects are considered: …