Research Note: Injurious pecking in fattening turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo f. dom.)-video analyses of triggering factors and behavioral sequences in small flocks of male turkeys.

ABSTRACT: Injurious pecking is one of the main welfare issues in fattening turkey husbandry. Birds pecked by conspecifics can suffer from serious injuries that may even lead to the death of the victimized animals or require their culling. In the present study, the behavior of male turkeys was documented day and night using video recordings throughout the entire fattening period of 19 wk. Thus, when a turkey was found injured or dead in the barn, a retrospective analysis of video recordings was carried out to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death or injuries of the bird in the present study. In 3 fattening trials with a total of 1,620 male turkeys with intact beaks, 41 birds (2.5%) were found either seriously injured (n = 24) or dead (n = 17) in the barn as a result from conspecific pecking

SUBMITTER: Bartels T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7704993 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature