NR ZDGQ

AU Jones,R.B.; Satterlee,D.G.

TI Restricted visual input reduces struggling in shackled broiler chickens

QU Applied Animal Behaviour Science 1997; 52: 109-117

PT journal article

AB Violent struggling and wing flapping during shackling and inversion can seriously injure chickens and other poultry. Apart from harming the birds' well-being by eliciting chronic pain states and their associated deleterious effects, such injuries could also reduce productivity and product quality. Not only are birds shackled during pre-slaughter processing but growing broilers and laying hens are often suspended by the legs for examination by the farmer or a veterinarian. The present study tested the hypothesis that restriction of visual input by hooding immediately before shackling would promote the adoption of immobility in broiler chickens. The hood consisted of an unbleached cotton wash mitten which was secured round the birds' neck with a drawstring. Hooded broilers and their non-hooded controls were shackled in daylight (approximately 625 and 55 lux, respectively, inside and outside the hood) at the entrance to the poultry house when they were 29 days old in experiment 1 and at 45 days of age in experiment 2. By contrast, in experiment 3, birds were tested in a darkened room (2 and 0 lux, respectively, inside and outside the hood) at 42 days of age. All birds were tested individually and once only. The results of all three experiments clearly supported our hypothesis. Covering the broilers' heads with a hood before they were shackled substantially reduced the time spent struggling as well as the numbers of struggling bouts and vocalizations. Therefore, regardless of their age or of the ambient light intensity, we recommend that broiler chickens should be hooded before they are suspended from shackles for weighing or for veterinary examination.

SP englisch

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