Stakeholder perceptions on broiler chicken welfare during first-day processing and the pre-slaughter phase : a case study in Belgium

Day of hatch and pre-slaughter processing are stressful events (involving selection, handling and transport) for broiler chickens, putting pressure on welfare, which has economic consequences. This case-study documented common industry practices and evaluated poultry industry stakeholder perceptions related to broiler welfare during day-of-hatch processing and the pre-slaughter phase. Twenty-three individual in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives of key stakeholders in the Flemish poultry sector: hatchery personnel (five), farmers (six), poultry catchers (two), transporters (three) and slaughterhouse personnel (seven). The findings showed various factors influencing broiler welfare during day of hatch processing and the pre-slaughter phase, with some discrepancies between stakeholder views and the scientific evidence. While stakeholders perceived the day of hatch processing procedures of chicks to be relatively under control, with no major issues, literature points out several issues, including first-week mortality and time without feed and water as major welfare problems. For broilers at slaughter age, the industry stakeholders' views aligned well with scientific evidence on major welfare issues, such as injuries, thermal stress, mortality during fasting, catching, loading, transportation and lairage. This study provides novel insights in stakeholder perceptions, and potential avenues for future research and actions to reduce animal welfare problems in the poultry sector

Effect of post-hatch transportation duration and parental age on broiler chicken quality, welfare, and productivity

Broiler chicks are transported to production sites within one to 2 d post-hatch. Possible effects of this transportation are poorly understood and could vary among chicks from breeder flocks of different ages. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of transportation duration and parental flock age on chick welfare, productivity, and quality. After hatch in a commercial hatchery, 1,620 mixed-sex chicks from 29-wk old (young) and 1,620 chicks from 60-wk old (old) breeders were subjected to transportation of 1.5 h or 11 h duration. After transportation, 2,800 chicks were divided among 100 pens, with each pen containing 28 chicks from one transportation crate (2 or 3 pens per crate). From the remaining chicks, on average 6 chicks (min 4, max 8) per crate (n = 228) were randomly selected and assessed for chick quality, weighed, and culled for yolk sac weighing (one d). Chicks that had not been assigned to pens or were not used for post-transportation measurements, were removed from the experiment (n = 212). Mortality, ADG, BW, and feed conversion (FC) of the experimental chicks were recorded until 41 d. Meat quality was measured for breast fillets (n = 47). No interaction effect of parental age and transportation duration was found for any variables. BW and yolk sac weight at one d were lower for chicks transported 11 h than 1.5 h and for chicks from young versus old breeders. The effect of parental flock age on BW persisted until slaughter. Additionally, parental age positively affected ADG until slaughter. Chick quality was lower in chicks from old versus young breeders. Chick quality and productivity were not affected by transportation duration. Mortality and meat quality were not affected by either parental age or transportation duration. To conclude, no long-term detrimental effects were found from long post-hatch transportation in chicks from young or old parent flocks. Based on these results, we suggest that 11 h post-hatch transportations under similar conditions do not impose long-term welfare or productivity risks

Dietary zinc source impacts intestinal morphology and oxidative stress in young broilers

Zinc is an essential nutritional trace element for all forms of life as it plays an important role in numerous biological processes. In poultry, zinc is provided by in-feed supplementation, mainly as zinc oxide or zinc sulfate. Alternatively zinc can be supplemented as organic sources, which are characterized by using an organic ligand that may be an amino acid, peptide, or protein to bind zinc and have a higher bioavailability than inorganic zinc sources. There are limited number of studies directly comparing the effects of inorganic vs. organic zinc sources on performance and intestinal health in broilers. Therefore, a digestibility and a performance study were conducted to evaluate and compare the effect of an amino acid-complexed zinc source vs. an inorganic zinc source on intestinal health. The experiment consisted of 2 treatments: either a zinc amino acid complex or zinc sulfate was added to a wheat-rye based diet at 60 ppm Zn, with 10 replicates (34 broilers per pen) per treatment. Effects on performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota composition, and oxidative stress were measured. Supplementing zinc amino acid complexes improved the zinc digestibility coefficient as compared to supplementation with zinc sulfate. Broilers supplemented with zinc amino acid complexes had a significantly lower feed conversion ratio in the starter phase compared to birds supplemented with zinc sulfate A significantly higher villus length was observed in broilers supplemented with zinc amino acid complexes at days 10 and 28. Supplementation with zinc amino acid complexes resulted in a decreased abundance of several genera belonging to the phylum of Proteobacteria. Plasma malondialdehyde levels and glutathione peroxidase activity showed an improved oxidative status in broilers supplemented with zinc amino acid complexes. In conclusion, zinc supplied in feed as amino acid complex is more readily absorbed, potentially conferring a protective effect on villus epithelial cells in the starter phase

Effect of group size and escape enrichment on reproductive performance of breeding does in part-time group housing

Societal demands for group housing of social farm animals such as rabbits are increasing due to animal welfare concerns. When breeding does are housed in groups, maternal protective behaviour negatively affects the reproductive performance of the does. In part-time group housing, does are housed in single-litter cages starting shortly before parturition until the first part of lactation and then group housed for the second part after their protective behaviour has diminished and the kits are more resilient. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reproductive performance of breeding does in a part-time group housing system with provision of escape enrichment and different group size (and concomitant different stocking density, as pen size remained unchanged). For each of the four consecutive reproductive cycles, 42 does with their kits switched at 22 d post-partum (pp) from single-litter to group housing for a total period of 13 d in pens of 200×102 cm by removing walls between four adjacent single-litter cages. Newly created group pens (N =12 pens per treatment) varied in group size, stocking density and enrichment: groups of either three or four does were divided over same-size pens with or without escape enrichment (2×2 factorial design). The escape enrichment was comprised of two sets of PVC pipes and two extra elevated platforms. Does were weighed and kits counted at parturition, after which kits were cross-fostered. Kits were counted and weighed again 22 and 35 d pp. Results for mean doe fertility (90.0%), number of kits (9.1 kits/litter) and kit weight (1037.3 g/kit) at weaning were comparable with professional farms using single-litter cages. No significant effects of group size and escape enrichment were found for any of the reproductive parameters. While housed in group, seven does were removed from the experiment, from which four does were severely injured. Post-grouping kit mortality was rather low (6.7%), but three kits were euthanised due to severe injuries. In conclusion, provision of escape enrichment and altered group size (and stocking density) had no profound effect on the reproductive performance of part-time group housed does