Evaluation of bone strength, keel bone status, plumage condition and egg quality of two layer lines kept in small group housing systems

Habig, Christin; Distl, O.

doi:10.1080/00071668.2013.792405

Cited by 35 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…As hypothesized, KBD increased with age. This is consistent with other studies (5,14,(16)(17)(18)(19) (21) found that the likelihood of experimental keel bone fractures increased with age but then began leveling off and to reverse at ∼49.5 weeks of age. This was neither the case in the present study where prevalence increased until the end of the study nor in a previous study where we found more laying hens with keel bone fractures in the 72nd compared to the 51st week of age (19).…”

Section: Age and Keel Bone Damagesupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Additionally, indentations along the ventral surface can also be classified as a deviation" (11), can reach up to 82% (12,13). Age (4,5,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18), different housing systems (4,7,19), nutrition (20)(21)(22), and genetic background (5, 17-19, 23, 24) have been shown to influence KBD. Egg production and the high laying performance of modern laying strains may also favor the occurrence of keel bone damage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When investigating keel bone damage in laying hens, it is crucial to observe the same hens over a longer period of time because prevalence of both keel bone fractures and deviations has been shown to increase with age (5,14,(16)(17)(18)(19). However, in some studies, prevalence only increased until about the 50th week of age and then leveled off or even decreased (4,15,21).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Egg Production in the Etiology of Keel Bone Damage in Laying Hens

et al. 2020

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Keel bone fractures and deviations belong to the most severe animal welfare problems in laying hens and are influenced by several factors such as husbandry system and genetic background. It is likely that egg production also influences keel bone health due to the high demand of calcium for the eggshell, which is, in part, taken from the skeleton. The high estrogen plasma concentration, which is linked to the high laying performance, may also affect the keel bone as sexual steroids have been shown to influence bone health. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between egg production, genetically determined high laying performance, estradiol-17ß concentration, and keel bone characteristics. Two hundred hens of two layer lines differing in laying performance (WLA: high performing; G11: low performing) were divided into four treatment groups: Group S received an implant containing a GnRH agonist that suppressed egg production, group E received an implant containing the sexual steroid estradiol-17ß, group SE received both implants, and group C were kept as control hens. Between the 12th and the 62nd weeks of age, the keel bone of all hens was radiographed and estradiol-17ß plasma concentration was assessed at regular intervals. Non-egg laying hens showed a lower risk of keel bone fracture and a higher radiographic density compared to egg laying hens. Exogenous estradiol-17ß was associated with a moderately higher risk of fracture within egg laying but with a lower risk of fracture and a higher radiographic density within non-egg laying hens. The high performing layer line WLA showed a significantly higher fracture risk but also a higher radiographic density compared to the low performing layer line G11. In contrast, neither the risk nor the severity of deviations were unambiguously influenced by egg production or layer line. We assume that within a layer line, there is a strong association between egg production and keel bone fractures, and, possibly, bone mineral density, but not between egg production and deviations. Moreover, our results confirm that genetic background influences fracture prevalence and indicate that the selection for high laying performance may negatively influence keel bone health.

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Section: Age and Keel Bone Damagesupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Egg Production in the Etiology of Keel Bone Damage in Laying Hens

et al. 2020

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“…Despite these benefits, aviaries are often associated with their own problems such as a relatively high incidence of broken keel bones (Käppeli et al, 2011;Rodenburg et al, 2008). Prevalence of keel bone damage (fractures and deviations) is greater in aviaries compared with furnished cage systems: reported prevalence in aviaries varies between 56 and 96% (Käppeli et al, 2011;Rodenburg et al, 2008), whereas the prevalence in furnished cages varies between 23 and 30% (Habig and Distl, 2013;Sandilands et al, 2009). Given that keel bone fractures are believed to be painful (Nasr et al, 2012a) and associated with reduced egg production (Nasr et al, 2012b) and increased mortality (McCoy et al, 1996), keel bone damage is one of the major welfare problems associated with laying hens in aviaries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Modification of aviary design reduces incidence of falls, collisions and keel bone damage in laying hens

Stratmann

Fröhlich

Gebhardt-Henrich

et al. 2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

104

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“…One of the most challenging poultry issues is keel bone fractures, in which the breast bone is damaged. Epidemiological studies have showed that keel bone damage has a prevalence of 23%–96% [ 2 – 5 ]. These rates translate to billions of birds with bone fractures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical Health Problems and Environmental Challenges Influence Balancing Behaviour in Laying Hens

et al. 2016

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With rising public concern for animal welfare, many major food chains and restaurants are changing their policies, strictly buying their eggs from non-cage producers. However, with the additional space in these cage-free systems to perform natural behaviours and movements comes the risk of injury. We evaluated the ability to maintain balance in adult laying hens with health problems (footpad dermatitis, keel damage, poor wing feather cover; n = 15) using a series of environmental challenges and compared such abilities with those of healthy birds (n = 5). Environmental challenges consisted of visual and spatial constraints, created using a head mask, perch obstacles, and static and swaying perch states. We hypothesized that perch movement, environmental challenges, and diminished physical health would negatively impact perching performance demonstrated as balance (as measured by time spent on perch and by number of falls of the perch) and would require more exaggerated correctional movements. We measured perching stability whereby each bird underwent eight 30-second trials on a static and swaying perch: with and without disrupted vision (head mask), with and without space limitations (obstacles) and combinations thereof. Video recordings (600 Hz) and a three-axis accelerometer/gyroscope (100 Hz) were used to measure the number of jumps/falls, latencies to leave the perch, as well as magnitude and direction of both linear and rotational balance-correcting movements. Laying hens with and without physical health problems, in both challenged and unchallenged environments, managed to perch and remain off the ground. We attribute this capacity to our training of the birds. Environmental challenges and physical state had an effect on the use of accelerations and rotations to stabilize themselves on a perch. Birds with physical health problems performed a higher frequency of rotational corrections to keep the body centered over the perch, whereas, for both health categories, environmental challenges required more intense and variable movement corrections. Collectively, these results provide novel empirical support for the effectiveness of training, and highlight that overcrowding, visual constraints, and poor physical health all reduce perching performance.

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Evaluation of bone strength, keel bone status, plumage condition and egg quality of two layer lines kept in small group housing systems

Cited by 35 publications

References 30 publications

The Role of Egg Production in the Etiology of Keel Bone Damage in Laying Hens

The Role of Egg Production in the Etiology of Keel Bone Damage in Laying Hens

Modification of aviary design reduces incidence of falls, collisions and keel bone damage in laying hens

Physical Health Problems and Environmental Challenges Influence Balancing Behaviour in Laying Hens

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