Fear, anxiety and production in laying hens with healed keel bone fractures

Joanne L Edgar; Yuki Omi; Francesca Booth; Nikki Mackie; Gemma J Richards; John F Tarlton

doi:10.1016/j.psj.2023.102514

Fear, anxiety and production in laying hens with healed keel bone fractures

Joanne L Edgar^*, Yuki Omi, Francesca Booth, Nikki Mackie, Gemma J Richards, John F Tarlton

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

For laying hens, the immediate aftermath and healing period of a keel fracture is characterised by reduced ability to perform species-specific behaviour, access resources and pain. However, the longer-term impacts, once the fracture is completely healed, are less clear. As well as acute pain and behavioural changes, a negative experience can shape future responses to putatively threatening stimuli, raising future fear and anxiety levels during husbandry-related events. We aimed to determine whether hens that had previously sustained keel bone fractures, but were now outside of the peak age range for new fractures, showed higher fear and anxiety levels compared to intact hens. We also determined if healed keel bone fractures were associated with reduced production, changes in behaviour and resource use. 150 hens with a palpation score of 1 (Keel fracture “KF”) and 150 hens with a palpation score of 0 (Keel fracture free “KFF”) were selected from a commercial farm at 63 weeks of age and housed in 6 groups (3 x KF and 3 x KFF). We compared production (hen weight and feed consumption, egg quantity, quality and weight, floor eggs, shell thickness and weight) and home pen behaviour (behaviours and transitional movements) in both groups. Finally, we measured the responses of KF (n= 75) and KFF (n= 75) during tonic immobility, novel arena and novel object tests. KF and KFF hens did not differ in their responses to the tonic immobility, novel arena and novel object tests, nor were there differences between the two groups in home pen behaviour and transitional movements. KFF birds were lighter and laid eggs with less eggshell membrane compared KF birds, but no differences were found between KF and KFF in any other production measures. We found no evidence that healed keel fractures were associated with detrimental welfare effects in laying hens, but further work is required to determine the mechanisms and implications of the lower body weight and egg shell membrane.

Original language	English
Article number	102514
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Journal	Poultry Science
Volume	102
Issue number	4
Early online date	26 Jan 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2023.102514
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the BBSRC (grant number BB/N00860X) and Bristol Veterinary School for funding this work. We would like to thank the 2 anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript. Data Availability: The data for this project will be openly available on the University of Bristol Research Data Repository. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the BBSRC (grant number BB/N00860X) and Bristol Veterinary School for funding this work. We would like to thank the 2 anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

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Functional housing systems for high welfare in laying hens: promoting natural behaviors in safe environments
Cogan, T. A. (Co-Principal Investigator), Morgan, E. R. (Co-Principal Investigator), Nicol, C. J. (Co-Principal Investigator) & Tarlton, J. F. (Principal Investigator)
1/06/16 → 30/09/20
Project: Research
Simulation of maternal care to improve welfare in chickens
Edgar, J. L. (Principal Investigator)
31/03/15 → 30/03/18
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Fear, anxiety and production in laying hens with healed keel bone fractures",

abstract = "For laying hens, the immediate aftermath and healing period of a keel fracture is characterised by reduced ability to perform species-specific behaviour, access resources and pain. However, the longer-term impacts, once the fracture is completely healed, are less clear. As well as acute pain and behavioural changes, a negative experience can shape future responses to putatively threatening stimuli, raising future fear and anxiety levels during husbandry-related events. We aimed to determine whether hens that had previously sustained keel bone fractures, but were now outside of the peak age range for new fractures, showed higher fear and anxiety levels compared to intact hens. We also determined if healed keel bone fractures were associated with reduced production, changes in behaviour and resource use. 150 hens with a palpation score of 1 (Keel fracture “KF”) and 150 hens with a palpation score of 0 (Keel fracture free “KFF”) were selected from a commercial farm at 63 weeks of age and housed in 6 groups (3 x KF and 3 x KFF). We compared production (hen weight and feed consumption, egg quantity, quality and weight, floor eggs, shell thickness and weight) and home pen behaviour (behaviours and transitional movements) in both groups. Finally, we measured the responses of KF (n= 75) and KFF (n= 75) during tonic immobility, novel arena and novel object tests. KF and KFF hens did not differ in their responses to the tonic immobility, novel arena and novel object tests, nor were there differences between the two groups in home pen behaviour and transitional movements. KFF birds were lighter and laid eggs with less eggshell membrane compared KF birds, but no differences were found between KF and KFF in any other production measures. We found no evidence that healed keel fractures were associated with detrimental welfare effects in laying hens, but further work is required to determine the mechanisms and implications of the lower body weight and egg shell membrane. ",

author = "Edgar, \{Joanne L\} and Yuki Omi and Francesca Booth and Nikki Mackie and Richards, \{Gemma J\} and Tarlton, \{John F\}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the BBSRC (grant number BB/N00860X) and Bristol Veterinary School for funding this work. We would like to thank the 2 anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript. Data Availability: The data for this project will be openly available on the University of Bristol Research Data Repository. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the BBSRC (grant number BB/N00860X) and Bristol Veterinary School for funding this work. We would like to thank the 2 anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors",

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AU - Richards, Gemma J

AU - Tarlton, John F

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the BBSRC (grant number BB/N00860X) and Bristol Veterinary School for funding this work. We would like to thank the 2 anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript. Data Availability: The data for this project will be openly available on the University of Bristol Research Data Repository. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the BBSRC (grant number BB/N00860X) and Bristol Veterinary School for funding this work. We would like to thank the 2 anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors

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N2 - For laying hens, the immediate aftermath and healing period of a keel fracture is characterised by reduced ability to perform species-specific behaviour, access resources and pain. However, the longer-term impacts, once the fracture is completely healed, are less clear. As well as acute pain and behavioural changes, a negative experience can shape future responses to putatively threatening stimuli, raising future fear and anxiety levels during husbandry-related events. We aimed to determine whether hens that had previously sustained keel bone fractures, but were now outside of the peak age range for new fractures, showed higher fear and anxiety levels compared to intact hens. We also determined if healed keel bone fractures were associated with reduced production, changes in behaviour and resource use. 150 hens with a palpation score of 1 (Keel fracture “KF”) and 150 hens with a palpation score of 0 (Keel fracture free “KFF”) were selected from a commercial farm at 63 weeks of age and housed in 6 groups (3 x KF and 3 x KFF). We compared production (hen weight and feed consumption, egg quantity, quality and weight, floor eggs, shell thickness and weight) and home pen behaviour (behaviours and transitional movements) in both groups. Finally, we measured the responses of KF (n= 75) and KFF (n= 75) during tonic immobility, novel arena and novel object tests. KF and KFF hens did not differ in their responses to the tonic immobility, novel arena and novel object tests, nor were there differences between the two groups in home pen behaviour and transitional movements. KFF birds were lighter and laid eggs with less eggshell membrane compared KF birds, but no differences were found between KF and KFF in any other production measures. We found no evidence that healed keel fractures were associated with detrimental welfare effects in laying hens, but further work is required to determine the mechanisms and implications of the lower body weight and egg shell membrane.

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ER -

Fear, anxiety and production in laying hens with healed keel bone fractures

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Projects

Functional housing systems for high welfare in laying hens: promoting natural behaviors in safe environments

Simulation of maternal care to improve welfare in chickens

Cite this