• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권11호
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• pp.1619-1637
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• 2000

A review was undertaken to obtain information on the range of beak-trimming methods available or under development. Beak-trimming of commercial layer replacement pullets is a common yet critical management tool that can affect the performance for the life of the flock. The most obvious advantage of beak-trimming is a reduction in cannibalism although the extent of the reduction in cannibalism depends on the strain, season, and type of housing, flock health and other factors. Beak-trimming also improves feed conversion by reducing food wastage. A further advantage of beak-trimming is a reduction in the chronic stress associated with dominance interactions in the flock. Beak-trimming of birds at 7-10 days is favoured by Industry but research over last 10 years has shown that beak-trimming at day-old causes the least stress on birds and efforts are needed to encourage Industry to adopt the practice of beak-trimming birds at day-old. Proper beak-trimming can result in greatly improved layer performance but improper beak-trimming can ruin an other wise good flock of hens. Re-trimming is practiced in most flocks, although there are some flocks that only need one trimming. Given the continuing welfare scrutiny of using a hot blade to cut the beak, attempts have been made to develop more welfare friendly methods of beak-trimming. Despite the developments in design of hot blade beak-trimmers the process has remained largely unchanged. That is, a red-hot blade cuts and cauterises the beak. The variables in the process are blade temperature, cauterisation time, operator ability, severity of trimming, age of trimming, strain of bird and beak length. This method of beak-trimming is still overwhelmingly favoured in Industry and there appears to be no other alternative procedures that are more effective. Sharp secateurs have been used trim the upper beak of both layers and turkeys. Bleeding from the upper mandible ceases shortly after the operation, and despite the regrowth of the beak a reduction of cannibalism has been reported. Very few differences have been noted between behaviour and production of the hot blade and cold blade cut chickens. This method has not been used on a large scale in Industry. There are anecdotal reports of cannibalism outbreaks in birds with regrown beaks. A robotic beak-trimming machine was developed in France, which permitted simultaneous, automated beak-trimming and vaccination of day-old chicks of up to 4,500 chickens per hour. Use of the machine was not successful because if the chicks were not loaded correctly they could drop off the line, receive excessive beak-trimming or very light trimming. Robotic beak-trimming was not effective if there was a variation in the weight or size of chickens. Capsaicin can cause degeneration of sensory nerves in mammals and decreases the rate of beak regrowth by its action on the sensory nerves. Capsaicin is a cheap, non-toxic substance that can be readily applied at the time of less severe beak-trimming. It suffers the disadvantage of causing an extreme burning sensation in operators who come in contact with the substance during its application to the bird. Methods of applying the substance to minimise the risk to operators of coming in contact with capsaicin need to be explored. A method was reported which cuts the beaks with a laser beam in day-old chickens. No details were provided on the type of laser used, or the severity of beak-trimming, but by 16 weeks the beaks of laser trimmed birds resembled the untrimmed beaks, but without the bill tip. Feather pecking and cannibalism during the laying period were highest among the laser trimmed hens. Currently laser machines are available that are transportable and research to investigate the effectiveness of beak-trimming using ablasive and coagulative lasers used in human medicine should be explored. Liquid nitrogen was used to declaw emu toes but was not effective. There was regrowth of the claws and the time and cost involved in the procedure limit the potential of using this process to beak-trim birds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.291-298
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• 2008

For many years beak trimming has been a controversial subject, particularly since the 1980's when the practice came under close scrutiny by animal welfare groups. In Australia it is considered an essential practice, averting losses of AUD$17.5m annually by reducing mortality from cannibalism. While mortality in flocks from cannibalism can be reduced from 25% of the flock to virtually nil, the beak trimming procedure is considered traumatic for the bird. This study examined if chronic pain in the beak was evident in birds 10, 20 and 60 weeks after being trimmed at hatch and in another group of birds, 8 and 52 weeks after being re-trimmed at 14 weeks. Chronic pain was assessed by measuring pecking behaviour and beak sensitivity responses. Pecking behaviour studies completed after beak trimming and re-trimming showed no evidence to indicate that birds were suffering severe chronic pain in the beak. Beak trimmed pullets pecked more at the cage and had more toe pecks, yet overall pecks made at the feed and the environment were no different than untrimmed controls. While the beak sensitivity studies provided evidence that the beak of birds trimmed at hatch and also re-trimmed at 14 weeks may be more sensitive there was no evidence that re-trimming resulted in a more sensitive beak than birds trimmed at hatch only. These studies have shown that birds which are beak trimmed and re-trimmed return to apparently normal feeding and pecking behaviour in the long term. However, there was limited evidence that beaks of trimmed birds have an altered threshold to potentially painful stimuli.

• 한국축산식품학회지
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.715-720
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• 2015

This study was conducted to determine the effects of beak trimming, stocking density (D) and sex (S) on live weight (LW), carcass yield and its component, and plasma glucose (PG) and triglyceride levels in Large White turkeys. To accomplish this aims, totally 288 d old large white turkey chicks (144 in each sex) were used. Beaks of 77 male and female poults were trimmed when 8 d old with an electrical beak trimmer. The birds were fed by commercial turkey rasion. Experiment was designed as 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with 3 replications in each group. Beak trimming and stocking density did not affect live weight, carcass composition and its components. The higher LW and carcass weight observed in trimmed groups. As expected, male birds are heavier than female, and carcass percentage (CP) would be adverse. However, in this study, CP of male was higher in trimmed, in 0.25 m²/bird. (D) × sex (S) interaction had an effect on both CP and thigh weights (p<0.05). Significantly D × S was observed in LW, CP and PG. The weight of carcass and its some components were higher in male. S × D interaction had an effect on plasma glucose level (p<0.05). Triglyceride level was affected (p<0.05) by sex. Significant relationships were found between percentage of thighs (r=0.447, p<0.01) and percentage of breast (r=0.400, p<0.01). According to this study, it can be said that trimming is useful with density of 0.25 m²/bird in turkey fattening.

• 한국가금학회지
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.213-229
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• 2023

본 연구는 한국 토종닭을 대상으로 부리 다듬기 여부와 교배조합이 생산능력 및 스트레스 반응 정도에 미치는 영향을 살펴 보고자 한 것이다. 시험은 6개의 토종닭 교배조합 248수를 대상으로 부리 다듬기를 실시한 그룹과 하지 않은 그룹으로 나누고, 이들의 생존율, 체중, 산란율, 난질, 깃털 손상도, HSP-70 유전자 발현량, H/L ratio 및 세포 내 DNA 손상률을 조사하여 비교 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 부리 다듬기를 한 그룹이 하지 않은 그룹보다 생존율 및 산란지수는 유의하게 높았고, 깃털 손상도 및 DNA 손상률은 유의하게 낮았다(P<0.05). 반면 육성기 이후 체중, 일계산란율, 난질, HSP-70 유전자 발현율 및 H/L ratio는 부리 다듬기 여부에 따른 차이가 없는 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 교배조합 간에는 생존율, 체중, 깃털 손상도, 난질 및 DNA 손상률에 유의한 차이를 보이고(P<0.05), 산란율, HSP-70 유전자 발현율 및 H/L ratio의 차이는 없는 것으로 나타났다. 생존율, 깃털 손상도 및 DNA 손상률은 부리 다듬기와 교배조합 간의 상호작용이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이상의 분석 결과로부터 토종닭의 부리 다듬기가 생산능력에 긍정적인 영향을 미치고, 스트레스 반응 정도에 있어서 육성기 이후부터는 부리 다듬기가 스트레스 요인으로 작용하지 않거나, 오히려 스트레스감소 요인으로 작용하는 것으로 판단된다. 또한 토종닭 교배조합 간에 생산능력 및 스트레스 반응 정도의 차이는 있으나 조합별 부리 다듬기가 이들에 미치는 영향은 거의 비슷한 것으로 보인다.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.443-448
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• 2008

Beak trimming in laying hens is a routine practice in which about 1/3-1/2 of the upper and lower beak is removed with the aim of reducing cannibalism. This experiment aimed to identify if this procedure causes pain by examining self-administration of an analgesic (carprofen) and pecking behaviour in 80 laying pullets beak-trimmed by two different methods at one day of age using hot-blade cauterisation or infra-red cauterisation. We also tested a control treatment, pullets with intact beaks, and a positive control treatment of pullets beak trimmed at 10 weeks of age which were expected to experience some pain due to recent severing of the underlying nerves in the beak. At 11 weeks of age birds trimmed at 10 weeks of age pecked more (p<0.001) gently ($0.6{\pm}0.06N$) at a disc attached to a force-displacement transducer than birds trimmed at 1 day of age with an infra-red machine ($0.9{\pm}0.1N$) or a hot blade ($1.1{\pm}0.07N$) and intact birds ($1.2{\pm}0.1N$). Maximum force of pecks recorded was also lower (p<0.001) in birds trimmed at 10 weeks of age than birds trimmed at 1 day of age with an infra-red method or a hot blade and intact birds. However, the pecking force in birds trimmed at 10 weeks of age was not increased by providing them with analgesic-treated feed, though birds that ate more carprofen had a higher maximum force of peck (p = 0.03). Pecking force in birds beak-trimmed at 1 day of age was the same as the pecking force of intact birds, and was unaffected by feeding pullets carprofen. A method of self-administration of an analgesic had previously revealed that chickens in neuromuscular pain arising from lameness consumed more of a feed containing carprofen than healthy chickens. However, we found no evidence that beak-trimmed pullets consumed more carprofen-treated feed than pullets with an intact beak. It should be noted that the three beak trimming methods resulted in an average 34% reduction in beak length, considered a light trim, and is perhaps not representative of commercial birds where greater portions of the beak are removed. We conclude that although carprofen has been reported to have an analgesic effect on neuromuscular pain in chickens, it appears to have no analgesic effect on potential neuropathic pain arising from the nerves severed by a light beak trim.

• 월간양계
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• 제22권7호통권249호
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• pp.55-57
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• 1990

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.288-296
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• 2001

The behavior of declawed emus in a farm environment has not been described despite its importance in the husbandry and welfare of the emu. This study examined whether declawing of emus causes chronic pain resulting in permanent changes in the locomotor and general behavior of declawed yearling emus compared to emus not declawed. One group of 40 emus were declawed on the day of hatch by removing the distal phalangeal joint using a Lyon beak-trimming machine. Another group of 40 emus not declawed were the controls. Declawed emus one year of age were allocated to a paddock $250m{\times}125m$, while the control group was placed in an adjoining paddock of the same dimensions. One hour video records of individual emus from each treatment were made from 08:00 and 17:00 h over 2 periods; firstly when food and water was available and secondly during a period when food and water was not available after being withdrawn overnight. Inactive, ingestive, posture change, grooming, aggressive and locomotor behaviors were monitored from the videotape. There was no behavioral evidence to indicate loss of locomotor ability of declawed emus or to suggest declawed emus were suffering from severe chronic pain as indicated by declawed emus engaging in significantly more bouts (p<0.05) and time of searching (p<0.05). Declawed emus also engaged in less stereotype pacing (p<0.05) indicating they were under less stress and not as frustrated as control birds which engaged in more step pushing behavior (p<0.05). Modelling analysis showed that pecking behavior in birds was most closely related to foraging behavior. Birds subject to pecking attacks demonstrated higher levels of stereotype behavior presumably as a method to cope with stress. The behavioral evidence in this study would indicate that declawing does not compromise the locomotor ability of emus and has the benefit of improving the social structure in the groups by reducing stereotype behavior and aggression.