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Severe feather-pecking in non-cage laying hens and some associated and predisposing factors: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2015

K.M. HARTCHER ,
S.J. WILKINSON ,
P.H. HEMSWORTH  and
G.M. CRONIN
K.M. HARTCHER*
Affiliation:
Poultry Research Foundation, 425 Werombi Road, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia Poultry CRC, PO Box U242, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
S.J. WILKINSON
Affiliation:
Poultry Research Foundation, 425 Werombi Road, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia
P.H. HEMSWORTH
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
G.M. CRONIN
Affiliation:
Poultry Research Foundation, 425 Werombi Road, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia
*
Corresponding author: kate.hartcher@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

Severe feather-pecking (SFP), whereby birds vigorously peck at and pull out the feathers of conspecifics, is an extremely injurious, highly prevalent behaviour. It has acute negative impacts on the egg industry worldwide, in terms of both animal welfare and production efficiency. A large volume of research has been conducted to investigate the underlying causes. However, although many contributing factors have been identified, it remains largely unpredictable, and very difficult to control. Environmental influences during the rearing period, feeding behaviour, feather-eating and individual bird differences play important roles in the expression of SFP. This paper provides a review of some of the literature on the aforementioned causes of SFP in laying hens.

Keywords

laying henfeather-peckingenvironmental enrichmentforagingrearingfeather-eating

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Type
Reviews
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World's Poultry Science Journal , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 103 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © World's Poultry Science Association 2016 

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