108:(HuSA). Housing design can influence vent pecking. Mortality caused by cannibalism was reduced when hens had sufficient room to perch all facing the feed trough, thus giving their perch-mates little opportunity to peck at the vent region and increased pecking activity and cannibalistic behaviour can occur due to inadequate height of the perches. Larger group sizes lead to increases in vent pecking suggesting that
745:
83:
Risk factors that have been identified as increasing vent pecking include dim lights placed in nest boxes to encourage hens to use the boxes, the diet being changed more than three times during the egg laying period, the use of bell drinkers, and the hens beginning to lay earlier than 20 weeks of
67:
were different types of cannibalism (65.51%), with vent cannibalism (38.57%) the most common. The type of housing system markedly affects the prevalence of vent pecking with 22.5% of hens affected in free-range systems, 10.0% in barn systems, 6.2% in conventional cages and 1.6% in
62:
Surveys have shown that 27% of farmers reported seeing damage to the vents of their hens and 36.9% of farmers reported vent pecking had occurred in their previous flock. Whilst farmers attributed 1.3% of mortalities as due to vent pecking the most common findings at
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Potzsch, C.J., Lewis, K., Nicol, C.J. and Green, L.E., (2001). A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of vent pecking in laying hens in alternative systems and its associations with feather pecking, management and disease. Applied Animal
Behaviour Science, 74:
283:
Glatz, P.C. and
Barnett, J.L., (1996). Effect of perches and solid sides on production, plumage and foot condition of laying hens housed in conventional cages in a naturally ventilated shed. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 36:
202:
Green, L.E., Lewis, K., Kimpton, A. and Nicol, C.J., (2000). Cross-sectional study of the prevalence of feather pecking in laying hens in alternative systems and its associations with management and disease. Veterinary Record, 147:
234:
Campo, J.L., Prieto, M.T. and Dávila, S.G., (2008). Association between vent pecking and fluctuating asymmetry, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio, and tonic immobility duration in chickens. Applied Animal
Behaviour Science, 113:
212:
Weitzenburger, D., Vits, A., Hamann, H. and Distl, O., (2005). Effect of furnished small group housing systems and furnished cages on mortality and causes of death in two layer strains. British
Poultry Science, 46:
257:
Parmentier, H.K., Rodenburg, T.B., De Vries
Reilingh, G., Beerda, B. and Kemp, B., (2009). Does enhancement of specific immune responses predispose laying hens for feather pecking? Poultry Science, 88: 536-542
46:
or bleeding if the tissue is torn by her laying an egg. Vent pecking clearly causes pain and distress to the bird being pecked. Tearing of the skin increases susceptibility to disease and may lead to
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Moinard, C., Morisse, J.P. and Faure, J.M., (1998). Effect of cage area, cage height, and perches on feather condition, bone breakage and mortality of laying hens. British
Poultry Science, 39: 198-202
38:, the surrounding skin and underlying tissue. Vent pecking frequently occurs immediately after an egg has been laid when the cloaca often remains partly everted exposing the
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Sherwin, C.M., Richards. G.J. and Nicol, C.J., (2010). Comparison of the welfare of layer hens in 4 housing systems in the UK. British
Poultry Science, 51: 488-499
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duration. Vent pecking can be related to disease or immune challenge as it sometimes becomes prevalent in cases of
Gumboro disease (
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302:
Wechsler, B. and Huber-Eicher, B.,(1998). Haltungsbedingte
Ursachen des Federpickens bei Huhnern. Agrarforschung, 5: 217-220
274:
Tauson, R., (1984). Effects of a perch in conventional cages for laying hens. Acta
Agriculturae Scandinavica, 34: 193-209
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Sherwin, C.M., (2010). The welfare and ethical assessment of housing for egg production. In
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Butterworth, A. and Weeks, C., (2010). The impact of disease on welfare. In
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age. Vent pecking is associated with indicators of stress, e.g.
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The causes and development of vent pecking are multifarious.
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104:) and is increased by challenges with the protein antigen,
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of birds performed primarily by commercial egg-laying
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The Welfare of Domestic Fowl and Other Captive Birds
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The Welfare of Domestic Fowl and Other Captive Birds
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680:Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
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685:International Society for Applied Ethology
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54:of the pecked bird and ultimately, death.
122:Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity
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42:, red from the physical trauma of
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744:
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389:Bee learning and communication
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790:Abnormal behaviour in animals
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30:. It is characterised by
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446:Evolutionary neuroscience
102:infectious bursal disease
399:Behavioral endocrinology
594:Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
374:Animal sexual behaviour
58:Prevalence and severity
533:Tool use by non-humans
486:Philosophical ethology
431:Comparative psychology
379:Animal welfare science
264:10.3382/ps.2008-00424
132:Cannibalism (poultry)
86:fluctuating asymmetry
639:William Homan Thorpe
404:Behavioural genetics
364:Animal consciousness
359:Animal communication
394:Behavioural ecology
106:human serum albumin
723:Behavioral Ecology
644:Nikolaas Tinbergen
436:Emotion in animals
414:Cognitive ethology
24:abnormal behaviour
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649:Jakob von Uexküll
419:Comfort behaviour
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34:damage to the
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52:evisceration
20:Vent pecking
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780:Bird health
599:Dian Fossey
564:Marc Bekoff
552:Ethologists
137:Toe pecking
96:ratio, and
48:cannibalism
44:oviposition
785:Aviculture
764:Categories
501:Structures
496:Stereotypy
158:References
94:lymphocyte
90:heterophil
730:Behaviour
673:Societies
511:Honeycomb
76:Causation
770:Ethology
749:Category
694:Journals
521:Instinct
471:Learning
466:Instinct
441:Ethogram
424:Grooming
347:Branches
340:Ethology
203:233-238.
116:See also
451:Feeding
284:269-275
213:553-559
193:259-272
142:Chicken
65:autopsy
32:pecking
40:mucosa
36:cloaca
22:is an
528:Swarm
456:Hover
409:Breed
235:87-97
516:Nest
506:Hive
28:hens
260:doi
92:to
766::
218:^
179:^
88:,
332:e
325:t
318:v
262::
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