The influence of stocking density on behaviour, health, and production in commercial fattening turkeys - a review

Krautwald‐Junghanns, Maria‐Elisabeth; Sirovnik, Janja

doi:10.1080/00071668.2022.2050673

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…However, the stocking density of the birds in this study (2.15 to 2.42 birds/m 2 ) was lower than the commercial stocking densities to ensure enough space for the various enrichments. High stocking density and large group size are influential factors in promoting injurious pecking in turkeys, as well as other injuries such as broken wings due to hitting the walls, equipment or other birds because of insufficient space [ 51 ]. Other limiting factors in the present study were the size of the pen and the fixed locations of the feeders and the drinkers, which affected the placement of platforms (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing different environmental enrichments for improving the welfare and walking ability of male turkeys

et al. 2023

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This study investigated age-related changes in turkey welfare measures (wounds, feather quality (FQ), feather cleanliness, and footpad condition (FCON)) and walking ability (gait) as influenced by different types of environmental enrichment (EE). Tom turkeys (n = 420) were randomly assigned to: straw bale (S), platform (P), platform + straw bale (PS), pecking block (B), tunnel (T) or control (C; no enrichment) group. Welfare measures and gait were assessed at 8, 12, 16 and 19 wk and analyzed using PROC LOGISTIC with Firth bias-correction. Better wing FQ with age was observed in turkeys in S and T groups. Turkeys in the S group had better wing FQ at 16 (P = 0.028) and 19 wk (P = 0.011) vs. 8 wk. Wing FQ (P = 0.008) was better at 19 vs. 8 wk for T turkeys. FCON worsened over time for turkeys in all treatment groups except for the S group. FCON was worse at 19 vs.8 wk for P (P = 0.024), PS (P = 0.039), B (P = 0.011), T (P = 0.004) and C (P = 0.014) turkeys and was worse at 19 vs. 12 wk for B (P = 0.038), T (P = 0.015) and C (P = 0.045) turkeys. FCON was worse at 19 vs. 16 wk for T (P = 0.007) and C (P = 0.048) turkeys. FCON was also worse at 16 vs. 8 wk for B (P = 0.046) turkeys. Gait worsened with increasing age in all treatment groups. Gait was worse at 19 wk for S (P < 0.001), P (P < 0.001), PS (P < 0.001) and B turkeys (P < 0.001) vs. earlier ages, while gait in T (P < 0.001) and C turkeys (P < 0.001) worsened starting at 16 wk.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing different environmental enrichments for improving the welfare and walking ability of male turkeys

et al. 2023

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“…The number of birds per unit area is decisive on their health and profitability 3 . There should be 6–7 chickens per square meter 4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High accuracy gender determination using the egg shape index

Kayadan

Uzun

2023

Sci Rep

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Since only female chicks are used in layer hens, usually hatched male chicks are killed. It is estimated that around 7 billion chicks per year are killed immediately after hatching. In addition to being unethical, this situation also causes great financial losses. Sex determination in chicks can be done before or after hatching. Of course, determinations made before hatching are more advantageous, but the prediction rate is relatively low. The morphology of an egg is expressed in terms of the Shape Index (SI), which is the ratio of the short diameter to the long diameter. In this study, male and female chicks were predicted by using the shape index of the eggs using the RUSBoost Classifier using Shape Index. Although SI varied according to the egg type, a significant correlation (r = 0.78) was observed between chick sex and SI. Therefore, it was possible to estimate gender by utilizing SI in chickens, even if the accuracy of classification was not as high as in ducks. Besides the SI, mass, short axis, long axis, ovality, volume, eccentricity parameters were obtained and used for the results. With this features, females classified with 80% and males classified 81% correctly. The model predictions were applied to the probability of female chick hatching equation from the previous studies, 71% of the estimations were correctly classified according to this equation.With this work, around 80% of accurate predictions were made. In this case, killing 5.65 billion chicks can be prevented. Likewise, many eggs are not wasted. 1.13 billion USD loss can be prevented.

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