Animal Welfare Research Group, Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Oslo, Norway.
Animalia, Norwegian Meat and Poultry Research Center, Oslo, Norway.
Poult Sci. 2018 Jan 1;97(1):2-16. doi: 10.3382/ps/pex276.
Feather pecking, toe pecking, cannibalism, smothering, social clumping, hens laying eggs outside the nest boxes, and reduced feather quality are examples of problem behaviors and consequences reported by egg producers. The aim of this study was to identify rearing- and production-related risk factors associated with producer-reported problem behaviors in Norwegian layer flocks. Questionnaires were distributed to 410 egg producers nationwide, and 120 producers responded to the survey (response rate 29%). After exclusion of data that did not comply with the instructions, the final dataset included 78 flocks (19%). The survey covered questions about the farm, the flock's production results, the housing environment, climate and management routines, and the behavior of the birds from 16 wk of age until the flock was euthanized at 70-80 wk of age. The individual problem behaviors were combined to generate a continuous index variable called "problem behavior", ranging from 0 (none) to 8 (all the listed problem behaviors) reported. Multilevel linear regression models were applied to evaluate associations between the index and selected risk factors during rearing and production. The primary predictor was housing system during egg production: producers with aviary flocks on average (± standard deviation) reported 1.6 (± 0.60) more problem behaviors compared to producers with furnished cages (P < 0.001). Within aviaries (n = 40), producers, on average reported 1.7 (± 0.50) more problem behaviors in flocks that experienced problems with climatic conditions, compared to flocks without climatic problems (P = 0.001). For respondents with furnished cages (n = 30), on average 1.1 (± 0.50) fewer problem behaviors were reported in farms with ≥ 7,500 birds compared to farms with < 7,500 birds (P = 0.027). In conclusion, this is the first study assessing management and housing factors during the rearing and laying phase associated with problem behaviors as reported by Norwegian egg producers. As this study relied on producer reported observations, future studies are needed to investigate whether objective measurements can verify these results.
啄羽、啄趾、同类相食、闷死、群体聚集、母鸡在巢箱外产蛋以及羽毛质量下降是蛋鸡生产者报告的行为问题和后果的例子。本研究的目的是确定与挪威蛋鸡养殖和生产相关的风险因素，这些因素与生产者报告的行为问题有关。研究人员向全国 410 名蛋鸡生产者分发了问卷，其中 120 名生产者对调查做出了回应（回应率为 29%）。在排除不符合指令的数据后，最终数据集包括 78 个鸡群（19%）。该调查涵盖了关于农场、鸡群的生产结果、鸡舍环境、气候和管理程序以及 16 周龄至 70-80 周龄鸡群被安乐死期间鸟类行为的问题。将个体行为问题合并为一个连续的指数变量，称为“行为问题”，范围从 0（无）到 8（所有列出的行为问题）。应用多水平线性回归模型来评估在养殖和生产期间，指数与选定风险因素之间的关联。主要预测因素是产蛋期间的鸡舍系统：与有笼养系统的生产者相比，采用开放式鸡舍系统的生产者平均报告（±标准差）有 1.6（±0.60）更多的行为问题（P<0.001）。在开放式鸡舍中（n=40），与没有气候问题的鸡群相比，经历过气候条件问题的鸡群的生产者平均报告有 1.7（±0.50）更多的行为问题（P=0.001）。对于有笼养系统的生产者（n=30），平均报告在拥有≥7500 只鸡的农场中报告的行为问题较少 1.1（±0.50），而在拥有<7500 只鸡的农场中报告的行为问题较多（P=0.027）。总之，这是第一项评估挪威蛋鸡生产者报告的与管理和饲养相关的养殖和产蛋阶段的行为问题的管理和住房因素的研究。由于本研究依赖于生产者的报告观察，因此需要进行未来的研究来调查是否可以通过客观测量来验证这些结果。
