The influence of different beak trimming age on performance, H-L ratio and antibody production to SRBC in laying hens

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of beak trimming age on performance criteria, H-L ratio, antibody production, the percentage of spleen and liver and external appearance. The chicks (Barred Rock) were randomly divided into 4 beak-trimming groups (non-trimmed (control), a trim at 1 d (1D), at 10 d (10D) and at 10 wk (10W)), each of 132 chicks. There were 6 replicate cages at beak trimming groups at rearing period. At 18 wk of age a total of 144 pullets were transferred to the layer house, and the pullets were housed at 323 and 646 cm(2)/hen with 8 and 4 birds per cage in three-deck layer cages. There were a total of 24 replications with 12 replications equally divided between the high and low density cages, and the beak trimmed treatments were randomly and equally divided within each density. As a result of this experiment differences among groups in body weight in rearing phase were disappear in the laying phase. Low feather condition was found in untrimmed hens. H-L ratio in both pullet and laying phase was higher in hens of untrimmed groups. Cage area affected all examined parameters except that body weight, mortality rate, cracked, broken and unshell egg rates, shell breaking, shape index, shell thickness, meat-blood spot rates, spleen and liver percentages, throat injures and antibody production to SRBC.

Influence of Beak Trimming and Stocking Density on Performance and Egg Quality of Laying Hens in a Tropical Environment

“…The effects of beak trimming on egg production have often been the subject of investigations by researchers. While some (Guesdon et al, 2006;and Onbaşılar et al, 2009) have found increased rates of egg production as a benefit of trimming, others have reported nonsignificant effects (Carey and Lassiter, 1995;Gentle et al, 1997). Feed intake and feed conversion ratios were lower in small hens group (420 cm2/hen) than larger hen group (Table 2) Generally, the present result was agreement with Davis et al (2004) showed that feed consumption was lower in group of 361 cm2/hen than that of 484 cm2/hen.…”

“…This may be due to the lower egg production of this group. Some researchers (Davami et al, 1987;and Onbaşılar et al, 2009) reported the similar results. However other researchers (Cunningham and Ostrander, 1982;Quart and Adams, 1982;and Onbaşılar and Aksoy, 2005) reported contrary results.…”

“…No difference in egg production was observed throughout the production period between the beak-trimming or stocking density treatments similar to the findings of Glatz (2009). Contrary to Onbaşılar et al (2009) egg production was lower in cage area of 323 cm2/hen (P<0.05). Some researchers (Quart and Adams, 1982;and Onbaşılar and Aksoy, 2005) reported the same results.…”

“…However other researchers (Cunningham and Ostrander, 1982;Quart and Adams, 1982;and Onbaşılar and Aksoy, 2005) reported contrary results. These differences may be due to the using different genotype, age and cage systems among researches (Onbaşılar et al, 2009).…”

Comparison of the Efficiency of BLUP and GBLUP in Genomic Prediction of Immune Traits in Chickens

“…Ab-AIV, AI-NDV, and SRBC antibody levels in the serum samples were measured with hemagglutination inhibition tests according to previous studies [22][23][24][25] and were expressed as the log 2 value of the corresponding dilutions. H/L was measured by using blood smears made with fresh blood [24]. Briefly, after staining with Wright's Giemsa solution, the heterophils and lymphocytes on the blood smears were counted under a light microscope.…”