![]() ![]() Damaged feathers received significantly more severe feather pecks than undamaged feathers. The feather pecks were classified separately as either gentle or severe. Sixteen groups of 11 Lohmann Brown hens between 26 and 28 weeks were observed with the recipient, the feather pecker and the body area that was pecked all being recorded. ![]() Manipulations involved damaging the feathers on the rump, tail or belly of different hens, with two or three levels of severity of manipulation at each body area. The aim of this experiment was to determine if damaged feathers were feather-pecked more than undamaged feathers on the same body area, and to determine whether some types of feather-body area manipulations were preferred over others as pecking stimuli. The simplest way is that one hen may damage the feathers of a hen, and another hen may find the damaged feathers an attractive pecking target. There are several possible ways that feather pecking may spread. In addition, feather pecking can become an even larger problem if it spreads throughout the flock. Feather pecking is a problem in commercial laying hens, particularly in loose-housing systems, where many hens can be affected by only a few feather peckers. ![]()
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