Effects of age, weight, and housing system on prevalence of dead on arrival and carcass condemnation causes in laying hens

Abstract

Causes of condemnation and dead on arrival ( DoA ) birds were studied at the slaughterhouse and effects of age, BW, and housing system were investigated. A total of 1,156 (0.18%) birds were found DoA and 20,754 carcasses out of 629,331 (3.30%) were condemned during postmortem inspection. The main reasons for condemnation were peritonitis, septicemia, salpingitis, emaciation, and tumors. The mean percentages of condemnation by septicemia and emaciation differed according to age and BW groups and were more common in batches of younger (≤87 wk) and lighter (≤1.88 kg) birds. Moreover, peritonitis and ascites differed significantly between age groups, occurring more frequently in batches of older hens. The presence of tumors of the reproductive system was more frequently observed in older and heavier hens. This result raises the possibility of tumors being correlated with the higher number of prior ovulatory events. The total condemnation rate was lower in hens from organic systems, followed by free-range, and differed significantly from barns and cage systems. Carcasses with ascites and peritonitis were found more commonly in hens from cages and barns and both differed significantly from organic systems. Salpingitis was statistically more prevalent in barns, presenting differences from organic and free-range systems. Monitoring condemnation causes of end-of-lay hens at slaughter provided a better understanding of health and welfare issues in different housing systems and allowed to identify potential welfare problems, which can be used to improve management and welfare on farms.

Time series evaluation of condemnation at export poultry slaughterhouses in southeastern Brazil (2009– 2019): a tool for optimizing resources in the poultry production chain

“…(Muchon et al, 2019;Souza et al, 2021;Souza et al, 2018). Therefore, the proper recording and analysis of the occurrences of condemnation in a slaughterhouse are essential for the planning of preventive measures, aiming at economic gains for the meat supply chain (Saraiva et al, 2021;Schulze Bernd et al, 2020). In addition, they may show behavioral changes in condemnation rates and indicate the need for specific investigations, such as the changes observed in COIs from 2017 onwards.…”

“…The relative contribution of the causes of condemnation of poultry carcasses highlights the challenges that need to be faced by the poultry industry (Table 1). These challenges impact differently in each region and country as they are influenced by management failures, slaughter process, and poultry flock health (Buzdugan et al, 2020;De Souza, Granjeiro, and Procópio, 2019;Saraiva et al, 2021;Večerková, Voslářová, and Večerek, 2019). The latter, as it involves etiological agents, tends to be influenced by management and by geographic and climatic characteristics of each region and season of the year (Jaguezeski et al, 2020;Schulze Bernd et al, 2020;Souza et al, 2021).…”

“…The higher occurrence of airsacculitis in turkeys may be linked to their older age at slaughter, which implies a longer exposure to factors that contribute to the disease's development, such as handling failures, poor air quality, high dust and ammonia concentrations, and the presence of pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and Mycoplasma spp. (Marchewka, Vasdal, and Moe, 2020;Saraiva et al, 2021;Souza et al, 2018).…”

Environmental Enrichments in Laying Hen Production Systems with Emphasis on Welfare and Egg Quality

“… Footpad health (Wang et al, 1998;Heerkens et al, 2016a and.  Mortality rate (Iqbal et al, 2020;Milisits et al, 2021;Saraiva et al, 2021) Some methods that have been used to assess hen welfare parameters include:  Radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems for determining ranging behavior ( (Larsen et al, 2017;Campbell et al, 2019;Bari et al, 2020a;Taylor et al, 2020).  1, 2, or 3 scoring scale for keel bone damage after palpation (1. no damage, 2. mild, and 3. moderate damage) (Bari et al, 2020c).…”

The use of sprouted barley grain in the diet of meat hens of the parent herd

“…The modern technology of growing laying hens of meat production direction provides for an optimal light regime, the use of modern ventilation equipment, the use of a balanced dry concentrate type of feeding, heating, and feeding and drinking lines, regulated by computer systems. All this made it possible to obtain up to 250 eggs per laying hen of the parent flock [3][4][5][6].…”