Assessment of the feather score and health score in laying hens reared at different cage densities

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate plumage conditions, injuries in the comb, cloaca, and feet at the end of the laying period (73 weeks of age) in native Atak‐S (A‐S) and foreign Isa Brown (IB) and Novogen White (NW) genotypes reared at two different cage densities. A total of 480 hens, including 160 of each hybrid, were used in the present study. Each hybrid group was divided into subgroups containing eight (468.75 cm2/hen) and 12 animals (312.50 cm2/hen) each with eight replications. The feathering status in six different regions of the body (neck, breast, back, wing, tail, and cloaca) was assessed by
scoring these regions both separately and as a whole. To detect injuries in the body, the comb, cloaca, and foot regions were examined. In the study, the effect of genotype on the feather score was  found to be significant in all body regions except for the tail region (P<0.05). In all hybrids, the highest plumage loss was in the tail region, while the lowest was in the cloaca region in IB and the neck and wing regions in NW and A‐S. The best results were obtained from the IB hybrid in terms of the total plumage condition. Genotype had a significant effect on the health scores in all body regions except for the comb (P<0.05). In terms of the feather score, the effect of cage density was determined to be significant in all body regions (P<0.01). It was observed that plumage loss increased as the cage density increased.

Keywords

• Cage density
• feather score
• genotype
• health score
• laying hens

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