Early life experiences affect the adaptive capacity of rearing hens during infectious challenges

Walstra, I.; Napel, J. ten; Kemp, B.; Schipper, H.; Brand, H. van den

doi:10.1017/s175173111000073x

Cited by 11 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Studies report that hens reared in cages produced heavier eggs compared to aviary hens [7] and floor rearing yields dirty and cracked eggs more frequently than cage rearing [8]. However, hens reared in enriched environments had better performance against Eimeria and infectious Bronchitis [9]. Whatever type of laying accommodation is used, the ability of the birds to adapt to it will depend, to some extent, on their previous rearing experience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Rearing Laying Hens in Aviaries Adversely Affect Long-Term Welfare following Transfer to Furnished Cages?

Tahamtani¹,

Hansen

Orritt

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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This study tests the hypothesis that hens that are reared in aviaries but produce in furnished cages experience poorer welfare in production than hens reared in caged systems. This hypothesis is based on the suggestion that the spatial restriction associated with the transfer from aviaries to cages results in frustration or stress for the aviary reared birds. To assess the difference in welfare between aviary and cage reared hens in production, non-beak trimmed white leghorn birds from both rearing backgrounds were filmed at a commercial farm that used furnished cage housing. The videos were taken at 19 and 21 weeks of age, following the birds' transition to the production environment at 16 weeks. Videos were analysed in terms of the performance of aversion-related behaviour in undisturbed birds, comfort behaviour in undisturbed birds, and alert behaviour directed to a novel object in the home cage. A decrease in the performance of the former behaviour and increase in the performance of the latter two behaviours indicates improved welfare. The results showed that aviary reared birds performed more alert behaviour near to the object than did cage reared birds at 19 but not at 21 weeks of age (P = 0.03). Blood glucose concentrations did not differ between the treatments (P>0.10). There was a significant difference in mortality between treatments (P = 0.000), with more death in aviary reared birds (5.52%) compared to cage birds (2.48%). The higher mortality of aviary-reared birds indicates a negative effect of aviary rearing on bird welfare, whereas the higher duration of alert behavior suggests a positive effect of aviary rearing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Rearing Laying Hens in Aviaries Adversely Affect Long-Term Welfare following Transfer to Furnished Cages?

Tahamtani¹,

Hansen

Orritt

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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“…On the other hand, a higher embryo temperature compared with incubator temperature is observed at the end of incubation, when the embryo is producing heat itself (French, 1997;Hulet et al, 2007). The aim of the SI treatment was to mimic embryo temperature during incubation in commercial hatcheries (especially multi-stage incubators) and was also based on a previous study of Walstra et al (2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To induce TI, chickens were placed on their back and restrained with one hand over the sternum for 10 s. If TI could not be induced in the first restraint, the procedure was repeated until a maximum of four restraints. If TI could not be induced after four restraints, the score was 0 s. When induction was successful, the duration was recorded for a maximum of 300 s. The maximum time was based on the previous study by Walstra et al (2010), which showed that most chickens tested did not reach a TI duration of 300 s. The recording ended after the chicken righted itself, or when the time limit was reached. In the latter situation, the score given was 300 s. Chickens with a longer TI duration are considered to be more fearful (Jones et al, 1994).…”

Section: Tonic Immobility (Ti) Testmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to respond to these challenges with the appropriate behavioural, physiological and immunological adjustments, a welldeveloped adaptive capacity is necessary. In addition to genetic background, environmental conditions and experiences in early pre-and postnatal life are known to influence the development of adaptive capacity (Star, 2008;Walstra et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies in broilers and layers demonstrated that deviations from optimum incubation temperature (between 378C and 388C; Wilson, 1991) have negative effects on embryo development (Romanoff, 1972;Shafey, 2004;Molenaar et al, 2010), hatchability (Deeming and Ferguson, 1991;Decuypere and Michels, 1992), chick quality (Lourens et al, 2005;Molenaar et al, 2010) and subsequent performance (Decuypere, 1979;Lourens et al, 2005). Walstra et al (2010) previously demonstrated that the combination of suboptimal incubation, hatch and rearing management reduces the capacity of layer hens to adapt to infectious challenges as compared with layers hatched and reared under more -E-mail: irene.walstra@wur.nl optimized conditions. However, in this previous study, incubation conditions were always combined with suboptimal or optimal hatch conditions, and therefore the effects of incubation temperature as a single early life condition could not be separately investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adaptive response to Eimeria acervulina in rearing hens is affected by suboptimal incubation temperature and heat exposure in later life

Walstra

Napel

Kemp

et al. 2012

Animal

Self Cite

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This study aimed to investigate whether suboptimal incubation (SI) temperature in weeks 1 and 3 of layer embryo incubation affects their development and post-hatch adaptive capacity during infectious challenges, by using Eimeria as a model infection under normal and immediately after more challenging environmental conditions of 72 h heat exposure. Eggs (n 5 160 per treatment) were incubated at optimal (OI 5 37.88C continuously) or suboptimal eggshell temperature (36.78C, 37.88C and 38.98C in weeks 1, 2 and 3, respectively). At day 33 of age, half the chickens of each incubation treatment were exposed to 72 h heat (358C), whereas the other half remained under control conditions (218C). At day 36 of age, all chickens were inoculated with 1 ml of a phosphate buffer saline solution containing 25 000 sporulated Eimeria acervulina oocysts/ml. The adaptive response to E. acervulina was measured by BW gain and FI from days 0 to 3 post infection (p.i.), days 3 to 5 p.i. and days 5 to 7 p.i., and by oocyst production (days 4 and 7 p.i.) and lesion scores in the duodenum (day 3, 4 and 7 p.i.). Our results demonstrated that SI temperatures in weeks 1 and 3 of incubation resulted in a reduction in yolk-free BW, chick length and navel condition. Moreover, SI temperature appeared to reduce the adaptive capacity to E. acervulina. This was demonstrated by tendencies to lower FI (P 5 0.07) and BW gain (P 5 0.08), more duodenal lesions (P 5 0.09) and higher oocyst production (P 5 0.02) after inoculation of E. acervulina. Higher lesion scores and faecal oocyst numbers were especially found when suboptimal incubation was combined with heat exposure preceding the infection. In conclusion, SI layer chickens tend to be less able to cope with an infectious challenge post hatch.Keywords: layers, incubation temperature, adaptive capacity, heat exposure, Eimeria ImplicationsThis study demonstrates that suboptimal incubation temperature affects the embryonic development and post-hatch behaviour of layer hens and tends to reduce their ability to cope with an infectious challenge. These results emphasize the importance of good incubation practice for the development, health and welfare of layer hens in production systems.

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Practical aspects of poultry vaccination

Wit

Montiel²

2022

Avian Immunology

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Early life experiences affect the adaptive capacity of rearing hens during infectious challenges

Cited by 11 publications

References 28 publications

Does Rearing Laying Hens in Aviaries Adversely Affect Long-Term Welfare following Transfer to Furnished Cages?

Does Rearing Laying Hens in Aviaries Adversely Affect Long-Term Welfare following Transfer to Furnished Cages?

Adaptive response to Eimeria acervulina in rearing hens is affected by suboptimal incubation temperature and heat exposure in later life

Practical aspects of poultry vaccination

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