Decina Caitlin, Berke Olaf, van Staaveren Nienke, Baes Christine F, Widowski Tina M, Harlander-Matauschek Alexandra
Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Department of Animal Biosciences, Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Animals (Basel). 2019 Mar 31;9(4):135. doi: 10.3390/ani9040135.
Feather pecking is a continuous welfare challenge in the housing of egg-laying hens. Canada is currently making the transition from conventional cages to alternative housing systems. However, feather damage (FD) among laying hens due to feather pecking remains a welfare concern. An explorative approach was taken to assess bird, housing, and management associations with FD in Canadian laying hens housed in alternative systems. A questionnaire focused on housing and management practices was administered to 122 laying farms across Canada in autumn of 2017 (response rate of 52.5%), yielding information on a subset of 26 flocks housed in furnished cages. Additionally, a three-point feather cover scoring system was developed to estimate the prevalence of FD. Farmers assessed FD by sampling 50 birds per flock. Linear regression modeling was applied to explain FD as a function of 6 variables (out of an available 54). Of the 6 modeled variables, "increased age", "brown feather colour", "midnight feeding", and "no scratch area" were associated with higher levels of FD at farm level (R² = 0.77). The results indicated that FD resulting from feather pecking is a multifactorial problem, and supported existing evidence that FD increases as birds age. These results also suggested that "feather colour", "midnight feeding", and "access to (or lack of) a scratch area or additional substrate" play a role in FD prevalence in furnished cages.
啄羽是蛋鸡养殖中持续存在的福利挑战。加拿大目前正在从传统鸡笼向替代养殖系统过渡。然而，由于啄羽导致的蛋鸡羽毛损伤仍然是一个福利问题。本研究采用探索性方法，评估了加拿大采用替代系统养殖的蛋鸡中，与羽毛损伤相关的鸡只、养殖环境和管理因素。2017年秋季，对加拿大全国122个蛋鸡养殖场进行了一项关于养殖环境和管理措施的问卷调查（回复率为52.5%），获得了26个配备家具鸡笼养殖鸡群的相关信息。此外，还开发了一种三分制羽毛覆盖评分系统来估计羽毛损伤的发生率。养殖户通过对每个鸡群抽取50只鸡进行评估。采用线性回归模型，将羽毛损伤解释为6个变量（从54个可用变量中选取）的函数。在这6个建模变量中，“鸡龄增加”、“棕色羽毛颜色”、“夜间喂食”和“无刨地区域”与养殖场层面较高的羽毛损伤水平相关（R² = 0.77）。结果表明，啄羽导致的羽毛损伤是一个多因素问题，并支持了现有证据，即随着鸡只年龄增长，羽毛损伤会增加。这些结果还表明，“羽毛颜色”、“夜间喂食”以及“是否有（或没有）刨地区域或额外垫料”在配备家具鸡笼中羽毛损伤发生率方面发挥了作用。
