Can Animal Protein Rich Diet Reduce the Frequency of Injuries in Beak Trimmed and not Beak Trimmed Turkey Hens?

摘要

The origin of feather pecking and cannibalism in turkeys is still largely unknown.The present practice of beak trimming to minimise injuries in the pecked birds will probably be banned hy 2018 in Lower Saxony because of welfare reasons.This study investigates whether an animal protein rich diet can reduce feather pecking and cannibalism in female fattening turkeys (B.U.T.6).A total of 5080 turkeys were split in four groups of 1270 hirds each and kept in a commercial barn during two fattening periods on woodchips (up t0 6 weeks of age)and later on straw litter.The beaks of the turkeys in two of these groups were trimmed whilst the beaks of the turkeys in the other two groups were not treated.One group of heak trimmed turkeys and one group of birds with intact heaks were provided with a diet that contained animal protein (hemoglobin powder and fish meal).The two other groups were fed with a plant-based diet as usual.Twice a day the animals injured birds were separated from the groups.Pathological investigations were performed on all culled and found dead turkeys with special attention given to external injuries.The results showed that between 3.8％ and 6.4％ of the hens in the groups with untreated beaks had to he separated during the two fatting periods because of injuries while between 0.8％ ancl 2.9％ of the animals of the groups with trimmed beaks had to be taken out of the flock.There were three times (second trail)and four times (first trail)more injured turkeys in the groups of hens with intact beaks than in the groups with trimmed beaks.This orientating investigation shows that at least 0.47％ (6 animals)and up to 1.80％ (23 animals),nearly twice as many turkeys died of massive injuries (cannibalism)in the groups of animals with intact beaks than in the groups of turkeys with trimmed beaks (0.23％-3 animals to 0.63％-8 animals).It appears that the animal protein diet does not have an effect on the intensity of feather pecking,cannibalism and resulting injuries in this investigation.