The battle against red mites
By Marleen Teuling, Poultry World, Oct. 13, 2017.
Controlling red mite is an emerging issue of great significance to the global egg industry. But it is also an underestimated problem by many poultry producers, who aren’t always aware of the full impact of a red mite infestation. Here’s an insight into the consequences.
Read more on the battle against red mites @ Poultry World.
August 7, 2017 a very nice one-day meeting was held in Aarhus (DK) to discuss feather pecking in laying hens and tail biting in pigs. The meeting was a joint initiative of FareWellDock and GroupHouseNet. A Skype4business connection made it possible for about 10 external participants to join the meeting in addition to the 60 delegates present in person.
Opening of the meeting, introduction and networking session,
Anna Valros, Sandra Edwards
9:50-11:00 Theme 1: Mechanisms underlying the link between health and damaging behaviour
Invited speakers: Janicke Nordgreen (pigs), Jerine van der Eijk (poultry)
Mini research seminar
≥ Lisette van der Zande: The estimation of genetic effects of tail damage on weaned pigs and its influence on production traits
≥ Anja Brinch Riber: Link between feather pecking and keel bone damage
≥Mirjam Holinger: Does chronic intermittent stress increase tail and ear manipulation in pigs?
≥Laura Boyle: The effect of removing antibiotics from the diets of weaner pigs on performance of ear and tail biting behaviours and associated lesions
11:00-11:20 Coffee/tea break
11:20-12:20 Theme 1 continues: Group and plenary discussion, Anna Valros
12:20-13:20 Lunch break
13:20-14:30 Theme 2: Predisposing factors for damaging behaviour during early development
Invited speakers: Jo Edgar (poultry) and Armelle Prunier (pigs)
Mini research seminar
≥Ute Knierim: A tool to work on risk factors during rearing for feather pecking in laying hens
≥Elske de Haas, Margrethe Brantsæter & Fernanda Machado Tahamtani: Disrupting availability of floor substrate in the first weeks of life influences feather pecking during rearing and lay – a Dutch and Norwegian approach
≥Anouschka Middelkoop: Effect of early feeding on the behavioural development of piglets around weaning
≥Irene Camerlink: The crooked mind of the commercial pig: can we rectify abnormal biting behaviour by early and later life conditions?
14:30-14:50 Coffee/tea break
14:50-15:50 Theme 2 continues: Group and plenary discussion, Sandra Edwards
15:50 Closing of workshop
Some tweets from the workshop:
Acute lethal aggression is increasingly seen in commercial pig farming, as is excessive neonatal aggression (Irene Camerlink)
About 50 studies link (in-)adequate foraging to injurious feather pecking in poultry (Jo Edgar).
Maternal care strongly influences chick behavioural development (Jo Edgar)
Study: Lots of ear biting on Irish pig farms, up to 50% of pigs; Follow up: Antibiotic use may play a role (both causing & treating) (Laura Boyle).
Feather pecking appears to be linked to keel bone damage (Anja Brinch Riber).
Feather pecking is associated with elevated specific immune response (Jerine van der Eijk).
Small scale, with an eye for tradition and with a holistic view on nature and farm life – surely this doesn’t make biodynamic agriculture as innovative as one might think. British-based layer farmer Hoeberichts will prove you wrong. He protects his free-range organic hens from avian influenza infection, coming from wild birds, by using laser
technology.
…
The laser (Agrilaser Autonomic) is silent and shows effectiveness of 90% to 100% in bird dispersal at farms, which the Dutch company says makes it a viable alternative to the expensive method of installing nets all around the entire poultry farm.
…
Read more (Article by Chris McCullough in Poultry World).
Access to litter during rearing and environmental enrichment during production reduce fearfulness in adult laying hens. By Margrethe Brantsæter, Fernanda M. Tahamtani, Janicke Nordgreen, Ellen Sandberg, Tone Beate Hansen, T.Bas Rodenburg, Randi Oppermann Moe, Andrew Michael Janczak. 2017. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 189: 49–56.
• Effect of litter access during early rearing on fearfulness in adult laying hens was tested.
• If lacking enrichment as adults, substrate during rearing reduced fearfulness.
• Enrichment provision when adult, masked effect of litter access during rearing.
• This study emphasises the importance of management practices during both rearing and production.
Exaggerated fear-reactions are associated with injurious flying, smothering, feather pecking and other events that compromise animal welfare in laying hens. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that chicks with access to litter during the first five weeks of life would be less fearful as adult hens compared to birds reared without access to litter. The hypothesis was tested in a national on-farm study in commercial aviary flocks in Norway. Five rearing farmers divided the pullets into two groups within their rearing houses. While the chicks were enclosed inside the aviary rows during the first five weeks of life, paper substrate where food and other particles could accumulate, covered the wire mesh floor in the treatment group, whereas the control group was reared on bare wire mesh. At 30 weeks of age, 23 aviary flocks (11 control flocks reared without paper and 12 treatment flocks reared with paper) were visited. During the visit, the fearfulness of the adult birds was tested in a stationary person test and a novel object test. The data was analysed by ANOVA or logistic regression as appropriate. The access to litter during rearing did not influence the number of birds that approached within 25 cm of the stationary person (p = 0.51). All flocks, regardless of rearing treatment, had birds which came within 2 m of the stationary person. The latency to approach within 2 m of the stationary person tended to be influenced by provision of environmental enrichment as adults (p = 0.08) and by the interaction between treatment × rearing farm (p = 0.08). The number of birds that approached within 2 m of the stationary person was influenced by the interaction between treatment during rearing and provision of enrichment as adults (p = 0.03), however, the post hoc test showed no pairwise differences. All flocks, regardless of rearing treatment, had birds that approached the novel object. The access to litter during rearing did not influence the birds’ latency to approach the novel object. The number of birds approaching the novel object was affected by the interaction between access to substrate during rearing and provision of environmental enrichment as adults (p = 0.05). The results indicate that both adding paper substrate to chicks from the first day of life and environmental enrichment as adults, reduce fearfulness in laying hens.
An organic egg farm in England has set up a novel method of protecting its hens from bird flu allowing them to stay outdoors.
Orchard Eggs based in West Sussex has taken advantage of the latest laser technology available from a Dutch company in order to scare off wild migratory birds and prevent them mixing with the farm’s chickens. As the British government recently extended the avian influenza (bird flu) prevention zone to April 2017, it also raised the biosecurity requirements poultry farmers must adhere to if they want to keep their birds outdoors. Orchard Eggs, owned by young Dutch couple Karen and Daniel Hoeberichts, said once they heard of the new laser technology steps were taken to set it up to complement the farm’s other biosecurity measures.
Read more. (Original article by Chris McCullough, 2017. Poultry Farm Sets Up Lasers to Guard its Organic Hens from Bird Flu – The Poultry Site).
Access to litter during rearing and environmental enrichment during production reduce fearfulness in adult laying hens
By Margrethe Brantsæter, Fernanda M. Tahamtani, Janicke Nordgreen, Ellen Sandberg, Tone Beate Hansen, T.Bas Rodenburg, Randi Oppermann Moe, Andrew Michael Janczak. 2016. Applied Animal Behaviour Science
Exaggerated fear-reactions are associated with injurious flying, smothering, feather pecking and other events that compromise animal welfare in laying hens. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that chicks with access to litter during the first five weeks of life would be less fearful as adult hens compared to birds reared without access to litter. The hypothesis was tested in a national on-farm study in commercial aviary flocks in Norway. Five rearing farmers divided the pullets into two groups within their rearing houses. While the chicks were enclosed inside the aviary rows during the first five weeks of life, paper substrate where food and other particles could accumulate, covered the wire mesh floor in the treatment group, whereas the control group was reared on bare wire mesh. At 30 weeks of age, 23 aviary flocks (11 control flocks reared without paper and 12 treatment flocks reared with paper) were visited. During the visit, the fearfulness of the adult birds was tested in a stationary person test and a novel object test. The data was analysed by ANOVA or logistic regression as appropriate. The access to litter during rearing did not influence the number of birds that approached within 25cm of the stationary person (p =0.51). All flocks, regardless of rearing treatment, had birds which came within 2m of the stationary person. The latency to approach within 2m of the stationary person tended to be influenced by provision of environmental enrichment as adults (p =0.08) and by the interaction between treatment×rearing farm (p =0.08). The number of birds that approached within 2m of the stationary person was influenced by the interaction between treatment during rearing and provision of enrichment as adults (p =0.03), however, the post hoc test showed no pairwise differences. All flocks, regardless of rearing treatment, had birds that approached the novel object. The access to litter during rearing did not influence the birds’ latency to approach the novel object. The number of birds approaching the novel object was affected by the interaction between access to substrate during rearing and provision of environmental enrichment as adults (p =0.05). The results indicate that both adding paper substrate to chicks from the first day of life and environmental enrichment as adults, reduce fearfulness in laying hens.
