2010 Cilt 29 Sayı 1
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11452/13938
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Browsing by Author "McKinstry, Justin Lee"
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Item Reducing the prevalence and severity of ınjurious pecking in laying hens without beak trimming(Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2010-05-17) McKinstry, Justin Lee; Petek, Metin; Uludağ Üniversitesi/Veteriner Fakültesi.Injurious pecking is a general term used to describe feather pecking, vent pecking, cannibalism and toe-pecking in laying hens. The severity of injurious pecking varies enormously, ranging from limited feather removal to cannibalism and death. Alternative housing systems for laying hens such as barn, free-range and aviary systems show much higher incidences of injurious pecking than with those birds housed in conventional caged system. From a welfare perspective injurious pecking can cause pain, stress, injuries, increased susceptibility to diseases, fear and death. Any major outbreak of injurious feather pecking can result in serious economic loss for the industry through decrease in egg production and feed efficiency. At present the egg industry uses both beak trimming of the birds and dim lighting methods to help reduce injurious pecking. However, both of these are being cricitised from a welfare point of view. In fact a general ban on beak trimming already exists in some European Union countries, with other countries considering a ban by 2011. Moreover, The EU ban on conventional laying cages (2012), when combined with a ban on beak-trimming, will increase the risk of injurious feather pecking and cannibalism. It is therefore important for future to consider other ways of controlling injurious pecking. Injurious pecking is a multi-factorial problem, which can be caused by environmental, genetic or nutritional factors and can be largely prevented by the use of a combination of environmental and husbandry management programs. This paper is intended to give a general overview of the potential risk factors and possible control measures associated with injurious pecking in laying hens, and in particular those flocks housed in non-cage systems.