Research Group on Game Species Breeding and Management, Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Campus de Vegazana, 24071 León, Spain.
Poult Sci. 2012 Aug;91(8):1751-8. doi: 10.3382/ps.2011-01677.
Although animal welfare has become an important premise in poultry, little attention has been paid to the effects of present-day rearing methods on the welfare of game birds, species released for hunting and re-establishment purposes. This work studied the effect of pairing methods on the welfare of the Red-Legged partridge kept in laying cages (4,500 cm2), a commonly hunted game species in Western Europe. Agonistic behavior and possible injuries caused by aggression were studied during the pairing and laying period in 2 types of couples: the forced type (n=24), 1 male and 1 female randomly chosen and placed in the same cage, and the free type (n=24), where the female had the opportunity to chose between 4 males, using the time spent by the female near each male as female choice parameter. Welfare of partridges was affected by pairing system, as aggressive behavior, divorces and injuries were observed in a higher rate in forced pairs (25% of pairs did not finish the productive cycle) than in free pairs (16.6%). In addition, more females were attacked in forced pairs, whereas in free pairs, the number of attacked males and mutual aggression was increased. Males tended to display more aggressive behavior than females, pecking mainly on the head and back of females. Although injuries were observed in a minor rate in free pairs, a higher mortality was reported in females compared with males from both free and forced pairs (6 females died in total). The poor welfare in a high percentage of laying pairs hampers the development of sustainable rearing methods for the species. Thus, farmers should consider avoiding forced pairing.
虽然动物福利已成为家禽养殖的重要前提，但目前的养殖方法对狩猎和重新引入目的的猎鸟（如红腿鹧鸪）的福利影响却很少受到关注。本研究探讨了配对方式对在产蛋笼（4500 cm2）中饲养的红腿鹧鸪福利的影响，红腿鹧鸪是西欧常见的狩猎鸟类。在配对和产蛋期间，研究了 2 种配对方式（强迫式和自由式）中的争斗行为和可能由攻击引起的伤害：强迫式（n=24）中，随机选择 1 只雄性和 1 只雌性放入同一个笼子；自由式（n=24）中，雌性有机会在 4 只雄性中选择，雌性靠近每只雄性的时间作为雌性选择的参数。配对系统影响鹧鸪的福利，因为在强迫式配对中观察到攻击性更强的行为、离婚和受伤的比例更高（25%的配对没有完成生产周期），而在自由式配对中（16.6%）则较少。此外，在强迫式配对中，更多的雌性受到攻击，而在自由式配对中，雄性之间的攻击行为增加。雄性比雌性表现出更多的攻击性行为，主要啄击雌性的头部和背部。虽然在自由式配对中观察到的伤害比例较小，但与自由式和强迫式配对中的雄性相比，雌性的死亡率更高（总共有 6 只雌性死亡）。高比例的产蛋配对中鹧鸪福利较差，这阻碍了该物种可持续养殖方法的发展。因此，养殖户应考虑避免强迫配对。
