Mutilations of Chickens
Chickens are adapted to the farm environment, instead of vice versa
Farmed chicken are subjected to several painful interventions. These interventions are mostly carried out without anaesthesia and pain relief. Why? For more economic efficiency and thus cheaper eggs and meat.
Castration Without Anaesthesia
Beak Trimming
Amputating
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Beak trimming
- Purpose: To reduce injuries on animals when fighting and prevent them from pecking each other.
- Procedure: The beaks of poultry are cut off by using a hot laser (infrared), without the use of any anaesthesia, even though it is very painful.
- Information: Beak trimming is very painful for the animal as the beak is the most sensitive body part of a bird and is needed for many kinds of manipulation. It can be compared to human fingertips and the amputation means loss of ability to cope with the environment, conspecifics and e.g. comfort behaviour. Additionally, neuromas can occur in the residual beak, causing pain or nerve hyper-sensation (perceived as electric shock after contact with the respective area). Every contact, that a bird has with the beak, e.g. feeding, is accompanied by a negative stimulus. The bird also loses its integrity and the ability for good welfare states by being adapted to the housing system and not vice versa. If housing conditions would be adapted to the needs of the animals (e.g. by offering outdoor grassland, species-specific structures, more space and limited group sizes), there would be no need for beak trimming.
- FOUR PAWS demands: A general ban on beak trimming. Beak trimming is a mutilation which is deemed necessary to mitigate the adverse effects of inappropriate keeping conditions instead of adapting the keeping conditions to the animals. No beak trimming of any kind should be allowed and performed.
Amputating combs, spores, toes, claws and wing joints (‘pinioning’)
- Purpose: To prevent animals from injuring themselves or each other when fighting and adapting them to the housing system instead of vice versa.
- Procedures: There are many different amputations performed on the animals:
- Declawing: removing the claws
- Toe/claw trimming: removing the tip of the three forward facing toes
- Dubbing: cutting off the combs
- Pinioning: cutting off the distal wing joint or the 'thumbs' of poultry and fowl that permanently prevents them from flying
- De-spurring: cutting off the spurs in roosters
- FOUR PAWS demands: A general ban on mutilations such as toe clipping, dubbing, or pinioning. Housing conditions should be adapted to the animal, providing them with more space and prevent injuries.
Castration of males without anaesthesia and pain relief (‘capons’)
- Purpose: To be able to house the capons together, without having problems of intraspecies aggression and to improve the meat quality due to longer fattening periods.
- Procedure: Before the young roosters reach maturity, they are tied to the table and surgically castrated without the use of anaesthesia and pain relief. The testes are cut from deep inside of the body cavity and the procedure is therefore very painful for the animals that even survive it.
- Information: It is also commonly accompanied with the removal of combs and wattles as well, while pain medication is never provided after the procedures. There are alternatives available (e.g. oestrogen implants) but are not yet completely researched in terms of side effects and efficiency.
- FOUR PAWS demands: Castration of young male roosters for capons is a cruel practice, done without anaesthesia and the production of capons should be banned completely in all countries, otherwise it creates loopholes where farmers can import castrated animals from countries where it is allowed.
FOUR PAWS demands regarding mutilations of chicken
- A general ban on beak trimming. Beak trimming is a mutilation which is deemed necessary to mitigate the adverse effects of inappropriate keeping conditions instead of adapting the keeping conditions to the animals. No beak trimming of any kind should be allowed and performed.
- A general ban on mutilations such as toe clipping, dubbing, or pinioning. Housing conditions should be adapted to the animal, providing them with more space and prevent injuries.
- Castration of young male roosters for capons is a cruel practice, done without anaesthesia and the production of capons should be banned completely in all countries, otherwise it creates loopholes where farmers can import castrated animals from countries where it is allowed.
Source
1. Poultry Science Symposium, Perry GC, editors. Welfare of the laying hen. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK ; Cambridge, MA, USA: CABI Pub; 2004. (Poultry science symposium series).
2. EFSA AHAW Panel (EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare), Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Schmidt CG, et al. Welfare of broilers on farm. EFSA Journal. 2023;21(2):e07788. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7788
3. Riber AB, Hinrichsen LK. Welfare Consequences of Omitting Beak Trimming in Barn Layers. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2017;4:222. doi:10.3389/fvets.2017.00222
4. Gentle MJ. Pain in Birds. Animal Welfare. 1992;1(4):235–247. doi:10.1017/S0962728600015189
5. Nicol C. 9 - Feather pecking and cannibalism: Can we really stop beak trimming? In: Mench JA, editor. Advances in Poultry Welfare. Woodhead Publishing; 2018. p. 175–197. (Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081009154000099. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-100915-4.00009-9
6. Glatz P, Rodda B. Turkey farming: Welfare and husbandry issues. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 2013;8(48):6149–6163. doi:10.5897/AJAR12.034
7. EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare. Scientific Opinion on welfare aspects of the management and housing of the grand-parent and parent stocks raised and kept for breeding purposes. EFSA Journal. 2010;8(7):1667. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1667
8. van Niekerk TGCM, Jong I. Mutilations in poultry European poultry production systems. Lohmann Information 42 (2007) 1. 2007.
2. EFSA AHAW Panel (EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare), Nielsen SS, Alvarez J, Bicout DJ, Calistri P, Canali E, Drewe JA, Garin-Bastuji B, Gonzales Rojas JL, Schmidt CG, et al. Welfare of broilers on farm. EFSA Journal. 2023;21(2):e07788. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7788
3. Riber AB, Hinrichsen LK. Welfare Consequences of Omitting Beak Trimming in Barn Layers. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2017;4:222. doi:10.3389/fvets.2017.00222
4. Gentle MJ. Pain in Birds. Animal Welfare. 1992;1(4):235–247. doi:10.1017/S0962728600015189
5. Nicol C. 9 - Feather pecking and cannibalism: Can we really stop beak trimming? In: Mench JA, editor. Advances in Poultry Welfare. Woodhead Publishing; 2018. p. 175–197. (Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081009154000099. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-100915-4.00009-9
6. Glatz P, Rodda B. Turkey farming: Welfare and husbandry issues. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 2013;8(48):6149–6163. doi:10.5897/AJAR12.034
7. EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare. Scientific Opinion on welfare aspects of the management and housing of the grand-parent and parent stocks raised and kept for breeding purposes. EFSA Journal. 2010;8(7):1667. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1667
8. van Niekerk TGCM, Jong I. Mutilations in poultry European poultry production systems. Lohmann Information 42 (2007) 1. 2007.