Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
J. L. Edgar, Y. Omi, F. Booth, N. Mackie, G. Richards, J. Tarlton
Summary: This study aimed to investigate whether hens that had previously sustained keel bone fractures showed higher levels of fear and anxiety, as well as the impact on production, behavior, and resource use. The study found no significant differences between hens with previous fractures and intact hens in fear and anxiety tests, behavior, and resource use. Fracture hens were lighter and laid eggs with less eggshell membrane, but there were no differences in other production measures.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Haidong Wei, Yanqing Chen, Haoyang Nian, Jing Wang, Yilin Liu, Jianxing Wang, Kaiqi Yang, Qian Zhao, Runxiang Zhang, Jun Bao
Summary: The study revealed a potential association between keel bone damage in laying hens and abnormal bone metabolism, with fluctuations in serum bone turnover markers being a key factor contributing to keel bone damage.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Ramesh Bahadur Bist, Xiao Yang, Sachin Subedi, Lilong Chai
Summary: Floor egg-laying behavior (FELB) in commercial cage-free houses is a concerning issue due to its impact on labor costs and food safety. This research aimed to develop and test a deep-learning model to detect FELB and evaluate its performance in research CF houses. The YOLOv5m-FELB and YOLOv5x-FELB models showed higher precision, recall, mAP@0.50, and F1-score than other models.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Haidong Wei, Yanju Bi, Yulai Wang, Qian Zhao, Runxiang Zhang, Jianhong Li, Jun Bao
Summary: Keel bone fractures in laying hens can affect the welfare, health, and production performance of the hens. Through a study of 120 Hy-line Brown laying hens, it was found that abnormal bone metabolism is associated with keel bone fractures, highlighting the importance of bone health in laying hens.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Sachin Subedi, Ramesh Bist, Xiao Yang, Lilong Chai
Summary: Feather pecking is a major welfare issue in commercial cage-free hen houses, causing harm to birds and economic losses for producers. This study developed machine vision models for tracking pecking behaviors and damages in these facilities. The YOLOv5s-pecking model showed superior performance, despite YOLOv5x-pecking model having higher precision, recall, and Map scores. This study provides a basis for developing a real-time automatic model to track pecking damages and protect the welfare of laying hens.
COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Xiao Yang, Ramesh Bist, Sachin Subedi, Zihao Wu, Tianming Liu, Lilong Chai
Summary: Poultry behavior is crucial for assessing their welfare, health, and production performance. This study developed a six-behavior classifier based on multiple CNN models, including feeding, drinking, walking, perching, dust bathing, and nesting behaviors. The classifier, trained and validated on a dataset of 12,000 images, achieved an average accuracy of 95.3% with the best model YOLOv5-cls-m.
ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Guro Vasdal, Ruth C. Newberry, Inma Estevez, Kathe Kittelsen, Joanna Marchewka
Summary: The Aviary Transect (AT) is a method for assessing welfare in cage-free laying hen flocks, which involves standardized walks screening the flock for selected welfare indicators. The study aimed to evaluate how AT findings varied in relation to various housing, management, environmental, and production factors. The results showed that the assessment varied according to housing conditions, supporting the validity of AT as a relevant welfare assessment tool for evaluating cage-free management practices.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Lisa Jung, Christina Rufener, Stefanie Petow
Summary: This study aimed to develop a scoring system for assessing keel bone deviations, evaluate the inter- and intra-observer reliability of this system, and investigate the correlation between fractures and deviations of the keel. The results showed that a tagged visual analog scale could be a reliable instrument for scoring keel bone deviations, and supported the assumption that most highly deviated keels also suffer from fractures.
FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Kathe Elise Kittelsen, Ingrid Toftaker, Fernanda Tahamtani, Randi Oppermann Moe, Ida Thofner, Guro Vasdal
Summary: The aim of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of palpation relative to necropsy for detection of keel bone fractures (KBF) in broiler breeders. The study found that palpation had poor diagnostic accuracy for detection of KBF and other methods, like necropsy, must be applied for reliable assessments.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Christin Habig, Martina Henning, Ulrich Baulain, Simon Jansen, Armin Manfred Scholz, Steffen Weigend
Summary: The study conducted experiments on laying hens in different environments and species conditions, observed the keel bone damage situation, and identified some related factors, to some extent explaining the reasons for keel bone damage in laying hens.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kathe Elise Kittelsen, Pall Gretarsson, Per Jensen, Jens Peter Christensen, Ingrid Toftaker, Randi Oppermann Moe, Guro Vasdal
Summary: Fractures and deviations to the keel bone are common in commercial laying hens, with modern genetics and selection for efficient egg production being important factors. There are significant differences in prevalence between Red jungle fowl and White Leghorn hens, with the latter showing a higher rate of fractures.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Mona F. F. Giersberg, T. Bas Rodenburg
Summary: Cage-free housing for pullets and laying hens is gaining popularity worldwide. This paper provides a comprehensive review of different cage-free rearing systems for pullets, including floor systems, multi-tier systems, systems with access to covered verandas or free-range areas, and organic systems. It emphasizes the importance of researching the health and welfare status of pullets during the rearing period, as most studies focus on the later laying period. The paper also highlights the need for further research on free-range and organic housing systems, as well as evaluating the environmental, economic, and food safety aspects of cage-free rearing for pullets.
WORLDS POULTRY SCIENCE JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Richard K. Gast, Deana R. Jones, Rupa Guraya, Kenneth E. Anderson, Darrin M. Karcher
Summary: Contaminated eggs are a major source of Salmonella infections, particularly in indoor cage-free housing, where the incidence of internal contamination is low but significant. This ongoing challenge requires attention from public health authorities and egg industries worldwide.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Lisa Jung, Abozar Nasirahmadi, Jan Schulte-Landwehr, Ute Knierim
Summary: Keel bone damage (KBD) is a prevalent issue in commercial laying hen flocks, affecting a wide range of hens. An automatic assessment system at the slaughter line showed high accuracy and correlation with visually determined prevalences by a trained human assessor. This system provides opportunities for better monitoring and combating this severe animal welfare problem in the long-term.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
H. D. Wei, Y. J. Chen, X. Y. Zeng, Y. J. Bi, Y. N. Wang, S. Zhao, J. H. Li, X. Li, R. X. Zhang, J. Bao
Summary: The study found differences in bone metabolism, elements of homeostasis, bone microstructure parameters, and BMD in laying hens with keel-bone fractures, suggesting an association between keel-bone fractures and bone quality.
