title: The effects of environmental enrichment and beak-trimming during the rearing period on subsequent feather damage due to feather-pecking in laying hens.
abstract: This experiment investigated effects of environmental enrichment and beak-trimming during the rearing period on behavior in rearing and plumage damage later in life. Treatments were applied in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Half of the birds were beak-trimmed at 1 d of age using an infra-red laser. A follow-up light-trim was performed at 11 wk of age with a hot blade. Environmental enrichment consisted of pecking strings, whole oats in the litter, and greater litter depth. Sixteen pens of 50 ISA Brown laying hens were used. Four pullets were selected from each pen as focal birds and observed in their home pens between 3 and 14 wk of age. Plumage damage was scored at the end of the experiment in wk 43. Beak-trimmed birds performed less ground-pecking (P = 0.003), less severe feather-pecking (P = 0.021) and more gentle feather-pecking (P = 0.018) than their non-trimmed counterparts during the rearing period. These birds also exhibited less feather damage in wk 43 (P < 0.001). The results indicate that gentle feather-pecking during rearing is not related to plumage damage when older. Additionally, higher rates of ground-pecking and severe feather-pecking during rearing may be predictive of plumage damage later in life. There was no effect of enrichment on plumage damage. It was concluded that while there was no effect on enrichment, beak-trimming appeared to be effective in reducing plumage damage in wk 43.
authors.affiliation: Poultry Research Foundation, 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 kate.hartcher@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hartcher
authors.affiliation: Poultry Research Foundation, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia.
authors.forename: K T N
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Poultry Research Foundation, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.affiliation: Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Hemsworth
authors.affiliation: Poultry Research Foundation, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Poultry Research Foundation, Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Camden NSW 2570, Australia.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Cronin
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001502:Beak / Q000601:surgery*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D005241:Feathers; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal
keywords: beak-trimming; behavior; enrichment; feather-pecking; rearing