Effects of Beak Trimming on Pecking Force

Controlling Feather Pecking & Cannibalism in Laying Hens without Beak Trimming

Alternative Solutions to Beak trimming in Layer Hens to Reduce Feather pecking and Improve Welfare

Feather pecking (FP) is one of the most significant welfare and economic problems in the egg production industry (Wysocki et al., 2010). For many years the solution to this problem has been beak trimming, which typically involves removing approximately 30% of the upper and lower mandibles with an electrically heated blade (Dennis & Cheng, 2010). However, this practice is now under scrutiny due ...

Beak trimming of turkeys. 2. Effects of arc beak trimming on weight gain, feed intake, feed wastage, and feed conversion.

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of arc beak trimming on feed consumption, weight gain, and feed wastage in males and females from two large-bodied strains and one medium-bodied strain of turkeys. Birds were placed in wire-floored battery cages from 3 to 8 wk of age and feed intake, weight gains, and feed spilled into dropping pans were recorded for each of the 5 wk of each tria...

Different effects of infrared and one-half hot blade beak trimming on beak topography and growth.

This study examined the effects of infrared beak treatment (IR-BT) and hot blade beak trimming (HB-BT) on beak length and production in laying hen pullets. Seventy-two 1-d-old birds were randomly assigned to the HB-BT, IR-BT, or control group. Birds were pair housed by treatment, and beak images and production indices were obtained posttreatment at fixed intervals for 10 wk. Immediately after t...

Comparison of beak-trimming methods on early broiler breeder performance.

Beak trimming is necessary in commercial broiler breeders to prevent or decrease trauma as they mature. Two common beak-trimming methods were evaluated by early performance comparison with nontrimmed chicks (NBT). The robotic electrocautery device (ECD) trims and cauterizes the beak tip. The robotic infrared beak-trimming device (IBT) applies an infrared light beam to destroy the live basal tis...