Current welfare issues in poultry Flashcards
Poultry code of practice
3 different codes of practice
- Pullets and laying hens
- Chickens, turkeys and breeders
- Transportation (under revision)
Who has to follow the codes of practice?
Everybody who has an animal
What are the marketing boards in poultry?
- Egg farmers of Canada
- Chicken farmers of Canada
- Turkey farmers of Canada
All of the farms get audited each year
Hen housing systems
Conventional vs. enriched vs. free run
- Battery system (most common in Canada)
- Mesh flooring, feed and water, manure falls through onto manure belt, slant so eggs roll out for collection - Enriched
- Larger cages, furniture (for nesting), perches, food and water, dust laying area, scratching mats - Free run
- Large room of large groups, aviaries on either side of room with perches, nesting areas, scratching pads. Area on group for manure
Advantages for poultry in small groups (conventional)
- Easier and cheaper for producers which results in cheaper products for consumers
- Easier to manage health
- Less mortality because smaller group and less likely to be establishing pecking order
- Manure belts to help keep everything clean
Advantages for poultry in small groups (enriched area)
- More natural behaviour
- Similar to cages
- Better health
Advantages for free run in poultry
- More space for natural behaviour and exercise
- Furniture
Disadvantages to conventional cages
- Limited space
- Behavioural restriction
- Bone quality (because they are not moving around)
Disadvantages to enriched cages
Less space than cage free but more conventional
Disadvantages for free run in poultry
- Risk of cannibalism (due to trying to establish hierarchy)
- Disease (harder to clean room)
- Parasites (harder to clean room)
- Environment
- Bone breaks (risk of injury from movement around the room, hopping around and colliding with each other)
Not a clear cut system when discussing poultry housing
- Not a clear-cut decision
- Conventional cages will be eliminated soon BUT enriched vs free run have both advantages and disadvantages
Consumer cost in poultry
Housing systems have an impact on costs for producers which leads to an increase in cost for product for consumers
Hen beak treatment
- Sharp pointed tip of the beak is removed
- Reduces cannibalism and injury (improves livability and reduces fear)
Hen beak treatment with hot-blade
- Hot blade
- Reduces cannibalism
- Literature shows that it can be painful (chronic)
Hen beak treatment with infrared treatment
- What is used in Canada
- Reduces cannibalism
- Literature shows that it is not painful or very minimal pain
Cannibalism in poultry
A learned behaviour. Once they start it, the rest of the flock will follow. Huge problem in the barn.
Beak treatment in Germany with chickens and turkeys
- Beak treatment prohibited and only use free run housing because behaviour was found to be manageable
- They also thought of doing this in turkeys BUT they couldn’t because its very difficult to manage their behaviour with intact beak
Ways to see if they could manage turkeys with intact beak
- Increased enrichment!
- 2.5% more fibre in feed
- Breaks during the day
- Emergency kit
- Separating pecked birds
- Covering wounds with zinc spray and baby powder
- Still had a higher mortality of a factor of 4 when turkeys were untrimmed
Where were injuries highest in turkeys with untrimmed beaks
Highest in snood and then head
Typical broiler barn environment
- Litter floors (free run)
- Barren environment
- Heating system
- Food and water
- Ventilation
What behaviours are allowed in a typical broiler barn?
- Moving freely
- Pecking
- Scratching
- Dust bathing
- Wing flapping
What behaviours are not possible or limited in typical broiler barn?
- Resting and sleeping undisturbed
- Reaching elevated structures
Environmental enrichment in broilers
- Limited requirements in code of practice
- Point source enrichment examples (enrichment available in different areas spread out in barn)
o Plastic chains
o Elevated areas
o Barriers
o Ropes
Does cannibalism/feather pecking occur in broilers?
No, they are lazier birds and want to just eat and sleep
Advantages of environment enrichment
- Positive effect on health
- Contact dermatitis (foot, hock, breast)- elevated areas moving birds away from moist ground
- Lameness - Positive effect on behaviours
- Expression of a larger behaviour repertoire
- Less fear reaction - Resting and sleeping undisturbed
- Better distribution in barn
- Stimulating activity
Disadvantages of environmental enrichment
- Expensive
- Investment costs
- Labour-intensive - Workload
- Installation
- Service/repairs
- Cleaning and disinfection - Challenges with bird control because they are harder to see
- Biosecurity risks for organic materials
- May have negative performance effects because more active birds that aren’t producing more so farmers less likely to want to participate
Broiler slow growth vs. conventional birds
Growth is ~23% slower than conventional breeds (GAP)
Slow growths impact on welfare improvement
May have:
- Reduced leg issues
- Reduced cardiac issues
**These may also be accomplished with lighting programs, nutrition and management in conventional production
May not have:
- Longer time with greater chance for dust/ammonia because they must be kept in the barn longer
- Foot pad lesions etc.
Slow growth broilers and their environmental cost
- 20 thousand more barns
- 1.5 billion extra birds for same meat amount
- 72.4 million additional on-farm mortality
- 7.6 million additional acres for crops for feed
- 5 billion gallons more water
- 25.7 x more manure to dispose of
- Overall 9 billion additional production costs
Consumer information and opinions
Large information gap and consumers are unaware of what is really going on and the science behind it
