Dataset Information

Effects of drop height, conveyor belt speed, and acceleration on the welfare of broiler chickens in early and later life.

ABSTRACT: During automated processing in commercial hatcheries, day-old chicks are subjected to a range of possible mental and physical stressors. Three determinants of the processing line seem to have the potential to affect the birds in particular: drop height from one conveyor belt to another, conveyor belt speed, and acceleration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of these 3 factors on chicken health and welfare in early and later life. In a first trial, chickens were tested on an experimental processing line that was adjusted to different levels of drop heights, belt speeds, and accelerations separately (n = 14 animals per factor and increment). Besides the assessment of several indicators for disorientation during the treatment, postmortem radiographic images were created and analyzed with focus on traumatic injuries. The number of chickens changing their orientation after the drop was affected by drop height (P < 0.01), whereas body posture changes were affected both by drop height (P < 0.01) and belt speed (P < 0.01). Traumatic injuries were found only sporadically and were not related to a certain treatment. In a second trial, chickens that were exposed to a combination of the 3 processing factors were compared with an untreated control group (n = 63 per group) until 15 d of age. There were no differences between the 2 groups regarding BW, welfare scores, and fear-related responses in a novel object and in a tonic immobility test. The present results suggest that the treatments on the experimental conveyor belts affected the birds' health, welfare, and behavior to a limited extend. However, starting at a drop height of 280 mm and a conveyor belt speed of 27 m/min, significantly more chickens were not able to maintain their initial body position on the belt. This indicates that there may be scope for discomfort and welfare impairment if commercial systems are operated with considerably larger drop heights and at higher speeds.

SUBMITTER: Giersberg MF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7705003 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of drop height, conveyor belt speed, and acceleration on the welfare of broiler chickens in early and later life.

Giersberg Mona F MF Molenaar Roos R Pieters Remco R Boyer William W Rodenburg T Bas TB

Poultry science 20200915 12

During automated processing in commercial hatcheries, day-old chicks are subjected to a range of possible mental and physical stressors. Three determinants of the processing line seem to have the potential to affect the birds in particular: drop height from one conveyor belt to another, conveyor belt speed, and acceleration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of these 3 factors on chicken health and welfare in early and later life. In a first trial, chickens were tested on an expe ...[more]

PMID: 33248544

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Project description:Broiler chicks usually hatch in the hatchery without access to feed and water until placement at the farm. This can affect their health and welfare negatively. Therefore, alternative strategies have been developed, for instance providing chicks with early nutrition in the hatchery or hatching eggs directly on-farm. However, information on the physical and mental welfare of chicks hatched in these systems compared to conventionally hatched chicks is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of alternative hatching systems on the welfare of broiler chickens in early and later life. A system comparison was performed with chickens that hatched conventionally in a hatchery (HH), in a system which provided light, feed, and water in a hatcher (hatchery-fed, HF), or on-farm (on-farm hatched, OH, where feed and water were available and transport of day-old chicks from the hatchery to the farm was not necessary). Chickens were reared in 3 batches, in 12 floor pens per batch (approximately 1,155 animals per pen), with a total of 12 replicates per treatment. Animal-based welfare indicators were assessed following standard protocols: plumage cleanliness, footpad dermatitis (FPD), hock burn, skin lesions (all at day 21 and 35 of age), and gait score (day 35). Furthermore, a set of behavioral tests was carried out: novel environment (day 1 and 21), tonic immobility, novel object, and avoidance distance test (day 4 and 35). Plumage cleanliness, hock burn, and skin lesions were affected by age but not by hatching system, with older broilers scoring worse than younger ones (P < 0.05). An effect of hatching system was only found for FPD, with the highest prevalence in HH chickens, followed by HF and OH chickens (P < 0.05). All responses measured in the behavioral tests were affected by age but not by hatching system. In later life, chickens were significantly less fearful than during the first days of life. The results indicate that conventionally hatched chickens scored significantly worse for FPD, whereas, in general, hatching system seemed to have minor effects on other broiler welfare indicators.

Project description:Increasing environmental complexity, e.g., by providing environmental enrichment, has been suggested as a way to increase activity levels and improve leg health in broilers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different types of environmental complexity on leg health and measures of welfare of fast-growing broilers housed according to conventional European legislation. A total of 58 pens with approximately 500 broilers each (Ross 308), corresponding to a stocking density of 40 kg/m2, were used. A total of 8 treatment groups, of which 5 were enrichment treatments (roughage, vertical panels, straw bales, and elevated platforms at 5 and 30 cm) and 3 were standard resources manipulations [increased distances between feed and water (7 m and 3.5 m), stocking density reduced to 34 kg/m2, and 1 control group (1.5 m distance between feed and water and no enrichment objects)] were randomly assigned to each pen. At 35 D of age, 60 birds from each pen were assessed for gait, footpad dermatitis, hock burns, plumage cleanliness, presence of scratches, and leg deformities. Birds housed with 30 cm elevated platforms had worse gait compared to those housed with straw bales and at the lower stocking density of 34 kg/m2 (P = 0.004 and P = 0.001). Broilers from the control group also had worse gait compared to those housed at 34 kg/m2 stocking density. In addition, birds housed with access to a 30 cm elevated platform had healthier footpads compared to birds housed with access to straw bales (P = 0.0001) and with increased distance between feed and water (P = 0.011). Furthermore, birds housed with straw bales had worse footpad condition compared to birds with access to a 5 cm elevated platform (P = 0.002). There were no observed treatment effects on scratches, plumage cleanliness, leg deformities and body weight (P > 0.05). Based on the welfare indicators used in the present study, decreased stocking density has the potential of improving animal welfare, whereas the effects of elevated platforms need to be further studied before a final conclusion can be drawn, as footpad health was positively affected, but walking ability was impaired.

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Project description:This study aimed to identify whether early-life conditions in broiler chickens could affect their behavior and welfare, and whether or not this was associated with an altered gut microbiome composition or diversity. Broilers were tested in a 2 x 2 factorial design with hatching conditions [home pen (OH) or at the hatchery (HH)] and enrichment (dark brooder (EE) or no brooder (NE) until 14 days of age) as factors (N = 6 per treatment combination). Microbiota composition was measured in the jejunum on days (d) 7, 14, and 35 and in pooled fecal samples on day 14. A novel environment test (NET) was performed on days 1 and 11, and the behavior was observed on days 6, 13, and 33. On day 35, composite asymmetry was determined and footpad dermatitis and hock burn were scored. In their home pen, HH showed more locomotion than OH (P = 0.05), and NE were sitting more and showed more comfort behavior than EE at all ages (P <0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). On days 6 and 13 NE showed more eating and litter pecking while sitting, but on day 33 the opposite was found (age*enrichment: P = 0.05 and P <0.01, respectively). On days 1 and 11, HH showed more social reinstatement in the NET than OH, and EE showed more social reinstatement than NE (P <0.05). Composite asymmetry scores were lower for EE than NE (P <0.05). EE also had less footpad dermatitis and hock burn than NE (P <0.001). Within OH, NE had a more diverse fecal and jejunal microbiome compared to EE on day 14 (feces: observed richness: P = 0.052; jejunum: observed richness and Shannon: P <0.05); the principal component analysis (PCA) showed differences between NE and EE within both HH and OH in fecal samples on day 14, as well as significant differences in bacterial genera such as Lactobacillus and Lachnospiraceae (P <0.05). On day 35, PCA in jejunal samples only showed a trend (P = 0.068) for differences between NE vs. EE within the OH. In conclusion, these results suggest that especially the dark brooder affected the behavior and had a positive effect on welfare as well as affected the composition and diversity of the microbiome. Whether or not the behavior was modulated by the microbiome or vice versa remains to be investigated.

Dataset Information

Effects of drop height, conveyor belt speed, and acceleration on the welfare of broiler chickens in early and later life.

Publications

Effects of drop height, conveyor belt speed, and acceleration on the welfare of broiler chickens in early and later life.

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