Mother Hen Research Articles

Naïve 3-day-old domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) are attracted to discrete acoustic patterns characterizing natural vocalizations.

Nonsongbirds can produce rhythmical sounds that, at times, have been shown to be meaningful in their communication. This raises the possibility that rhythm is a separate ability that might have evolved earlier than song. We asked whether nearly completely naïve domestic chicks perceive rhythm and respond in specific ways to different rhythmic patterns. To do so, specific constituent parameters of rhythmicity were used based on the sound of a natural mother hen's cluck. The sound samples created ranged from a continuous sound to articulated rhythmic patterns of alternating strong and weak events. Chicks' reactivity to the patterns was tested over a series of sound exposure experiments by their propensity to operate a running wheel toward the acoustic source, a paradigm simulating chicks' natural affiliative response to the hen's call. Results showed that motor activity increased markedly when acoustic events were discrete (compared with continuous), and significantly when accent structure was faster (compared with slower rates). Similar to human infants, chicks showed a significant preference for pulsed over continuous patterns. Chicks also ran harder toward calls with fast strong pulsating events, suggesting that different arrangements of events in time can be differently arousing, but independently of whether the events were presented in a regular or nonregular fashion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Fear and behavior of young pheasants reared with or without parent figure

Modern game birds rearing methods use mechanical incubators to hatch eggs and artificial brooders to intensively rear birds. However, the lack of parental care can have consequences on behavior and welfare of these birds affecting also survival after their release in the wild. In this study, we compared the response of 4-week-old young pheasants (brooded by a foster mother hen and artificially brooded) to two behavioral tests (duration of tonic immobility and response to aerial predator). Tonic immobility was significantly different between the two groups of birds indicating a higher level of fear in artificially brooded pheasants compared to brooded pheasants. Pheasants brooded by a foster hen showed a stronger response to aerial predator compared to artificially brooded pheasants. The foster hen seems to have a positive effect on pheasant chicks’ behavior reducing the fear and improving the ability to perceive threats.

Multigenerational effects of a reduced balanced protein diet during the rearing and laying period of broiler breeders. 2. Zootechnical performance of the F1 broiler offspring

Several studies in mammals focused on the maternal programming of the metabolism by epigenetic mechanisms, while currently, the consequences of a maternal dietary treatment on the offspring performance of farm animals are of particular interest for commercial purpose. In the present study, we investigated if the zootechnical performance of the progeny was altered by a maternal dietary treatment, being a lower dietary crude protein (CP) of the grandparent and/or parent generation. The multigenerational effects of a reduced maternal CP content were investigated by reducing the dietary CP level by 25% in rearing and laying diets of pure line A breeders. The F0 generation breeders were fed either control (C) or reduced balanced protein (RP) diets. The F1 breeder generation was constructed by dividing the F0 female progeny again over a C or RP diet, resulting in 4 dietary treatments in the F1 generation: C/C, C/RP, RP/C, and RP/RP (letters indicating the diets in, respectively, F0 and F1 generations). The offspring performance was evaluated by a zootechnical and nitrogen retention trial on C and low-protein (LP) broiler diets. For the C broiler diet, the C/RP and RP/RP offspring were characterized by a higher BW from d 35 until d 42 compared to the C/C progeny, whereas the RP/C offspring had an intermediate BW that did not differ from the other groups. A tendency (P = 0.067) towards a better nitrogen retention was observed for the offspring of breeders that received the RP diets in F0 and/or F1 generation compared to the C/C progeny. For the LP broiler diet, the C/RP (P = 0.021) and RP/C (P = 0.001) offspring had a higher BW compared to the C/C progeny during the entire grow-out period. In addition, the C/RP offspring were characterized by a lower FCR from d 28 onwards (P = 0.021). In conclusion, dietary treatments imposed on mother hens can have direct effects on the next generation, as well as indirect effects on multiple generations.

Mentor and Mother Hen: Just What I Needed as a First Year Professor

Support is needed for new faculty members to achieve success in the early stages of the higher education career. Women, in particular, are often left to fend for themselves when entering the academy. This sonata-form case study glimpse into a mentoring relationship will focus on the experience of a new female faculty member as she was mentored and "mother-henned" by a senior member in her department. The mentor provided the framework for open sharing about tenure and promotion expectations, the inside politics of the department, research protocols at the university, and many other supports that led to her early success in academia. A point of interest is the fact that this was a cross-race mentoring relationship.

A Life Dedicated to Support a Family Meal: The Women Trisikad Drivers’ Story

The study determined the fantasies and aspirations of women trisikad drivers in Cebu City, Philippines. Specifically, the study aimed to: determine the personal profile of women trisikad drivers in Pasil, Taboan, and San Nicolas, Cebu City, examine the factors that influence their lives, extrapolate lived experiences that promote women’s decisiveness and access to economic resources. The study utilized a case study design with narrative descriptions of the primary respondents. The data generated were clustered, coded, and metaphorical themes were illuminated. Life of women trisikad drivers was dedicated to support a family meal, being a co-equal with their husbands. Living an impoverished life ‘starved like a rat’ in order to meet both ends meet. Their assertive fantasies proved that they were normal individuals who felt like: ‘a superwoman that finds her way out at the end of the tunnel’, empowered and took control over scarce resources, ‘a blooming lily under the 49 degrees heat of a tropical summer’, struggled poverty, and ‘a mother hen protecting their chicks from a gliding skyline hawk’, raised an income for children’s survival. Their life-changing aspirations included: ‘chasing ice castles in the air’, never met the normal Cindrella life syndrome, ‘buoyant force that makes the boat sail to its final destination, with their husbands as the propeller’, gained support by their husbands, and ‘newly hibernated amphibians in a hostile ecosystem’, despised the strain of gender stereotyping. Their lived experiences characterized in ‘painful joy’ because of their minimal income, ‘serving as an army of ants’, chased equally with their male counterparts just to bring food on the table, and ‘being the winds beneath their husbands’ wings’, assured by their husbands’ love and protection. Though, their economic status is a ‘scratching and pecking condition’, earned typically in day-to-day subsistence with hope.

Influences of Maternal Care on Chicken Welfare.

Simple SummaryFor a domestic chick, the mother hen is an important role model; chicks learn a great deal from their mother about what to peck, when to rest and how to behave when there is a threat. However, in large farms, natural brooding is not commercially viable and so chicks are hatched in large incubators and reared artificially. Chicks reared without a mother in this way are more fearful and more likely to develop behavioural problems, such as feather pecking. We discuss the important features of maternal care in chickens, the behavioural consequences of deprivation, and the welfare implications on commercial farms. We finish by suggesting ways to simulate natural maternal care to improve commercial chick rearing practice.In domestic chickens, the provision of maternal care strongly influences the behavioural development of chicks. Mother hens play an important role in directing their chicks’ behaviour and are able to buffer their chicks’ response to stressors. Chicks imprint upon their mother, who is key in directing the chicks’ behaviour and in allowing them to develop food preferences. Chicks reared by a mother hen are less fearful and show higher levels of behavioural synchronisation than chicks reared artificially. In a commercial setting, more fearful chicks with unsynchronised behaviour are more likely to develop behavioural problems, such as feather pecking. As well as being an inherent welfare problem, fear can also lead to panic responses, smothering, and fractured bones. Despite the beneficial effects of brooding, it is not commercially viable to allow natural brooding on farms and so chicks are hatched in large incubators and reared artificially, without a mother hen. In this review we cover the literature demonstrating the important features of maternal care in domestic chickens, the behavioural consequences of deprivation and the welfare implications on commercial farms. We finish by suggesting ways to use research in natural maternal care to improve commercial chick rearing practice.

Development of early foraging behaviour of domestic chicks in varying social contexts

Two aspects of foraging development might be crucial to learning in precocial chicks: what food particles look like and what food sites look like. Previous research indicates that there are innate dispositions for particle preferences and for preferring the type of food sites experienced between day 3 and 5 of age, both of which are likely to be socially modified. The aim of the present work was to investigate how chicks and their foster hens coordinate discovering food caches (N=24) during the first week of life in a foraging arena and, in a second study, how preferences for particles and food sites develop in groups of domestic chicks that were housed together with a foster hen or not, and whether a chick that is three days older than its group mates might substitute some of the foster hen's tutor effects for these preferences (16 groups in each of the three treatments). Particle preferences were tested on day 9 of age in the second study without hen, tutor or tutor control chicks in a test apparatus where an array of particle types was offered in differently coloured food pens. Chicks of foster hens were less likely than chicks of the other two treatments to peck at novel particles that most closely resembled known food particles (gravel). No difference between treatments was found for known food particles, particles of the home pen's ground substrate or another novel type of particle. In contrast to this tutor effect that was only found in chicks fostered by a hen, both chicks of a mother hen and chicks that were reared with an older and food trained chick, but not chicks with an additional naïve control chick of the same age, showed a first choice preference for types of food locations experienced on day 3 and 5 of age as opposed to types of food location experienced on day 2 and 7. It is concluded that the development of early learning in domestic chicks of what to forage on and where is adapted to naturally composed groups were the type of food sites are unlikely to be demonstrated by clutch mates during the first week of life and where only the mother hen shows specific displays for small scale aspects of foraging, such as in regard of food particles.

Day‐1 chick development

The first day of chick development takes place inside the mother hen (in utero), during which the embryo progresses from fertilization to late blastula/early gastrula formation. The salient features of developmental anatomy in this period are conserved among the sauropsids (birds and reptiles). Many of these features are also shared in prototherian (monotreme) embryos, whereas metatherian (marsupial) and eutherian (placental) embryos display significant variations. Important for understanding the evolution of early development in amniotes, the knowledge of cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating in utero chick development may also offer valuable insight into early lineage specification in prototherians and conserved features in mammalian early development. This commentary provides a snapshot of what is currently known about intrauterine chick development and identifies key issues that await further clarification, including the process of cellularization, allocation of maternal determinants, zygotic gene activation, mid-blastula transition, cell layer increase and reduction, radial symmetry breaking, early lineage segregation, and role of yolk syncytium in early patterning.

Protective mother hens: cognitive influences on the avian maternal response

We previously demonstrated that domestic hens, Gallus gallus domesticus, show behavioural and physiological responses when witnessing mild chick distress, and possess the underlying foundations of emotional empathy. However, no studies have determined how cognitive influences affect empathic processes in birds. A fundamental question is whether a mother hen's response to chick distress is mediated by her knowledge about the situation or by chick distress cues. We therefore investigated how manipulating hen and chick knowledge influences hens' responses to chick distress. Each hen's brood of chicks was split into three groups, based on whether they had the same, opposite or no knowledge about a potentially threatening situation (environmental cues signalling air puff administration). We compared hens' behavioural, vocal and physiological responses (heart rate, heart rate variability and surface body temperature) to actual and perceived threat to their chicks. Hens increased maternal vocalizations and walking, and decreased preening, when they perceived their chicks to be threatened, regardless of the chicks' reactions to the situation. Hens exhibited signs of stress-induced hyperthermia only when their perception of threat was in accordance with that of their chicks. Chick behaviour was influenced by the hens' expectations, with all chick groups spending more time distress vocalizing and less time preening when in the environment that the hen associated with threat. We conclude that the protective maternal response of domestic hens is not solely driven by chick distress cues; rather, hens integrate these with their own knowledge to produce a potentially adaptive, flexible and context-dependent response.

Weaving dreamcatchers: mothering among American Indian women who were teen mothers.

The aim of this study was to explore the mothering experience and practice among reservation-based adult American Indian women who had been adolescent mothers. Adolescent American Indian women are at an elevated risk for teen pregnancy and poor maternal/child outcomes. Identifying mothering practices among this population may help guide intervention development that will improve health outcomes. A collaborative orientation to community-based participatory research approach. Employing interpretive phenomenology, 30 adult American Indian women who resided on a Northwestern reservation were recruited. In-depth, face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted between 2007-2008. Women shared their mothering experience and practice, which encompassed a lifespan perspective grounded in their American Indian cultural tradition. Four themes were identified as follows: mother hen, interrupted mothering and second chances, breaking cycles and mothering a community. Mothering originated in childhood, extended across their lifespan and moved beyond mothering their biological offspring. These findings challenge the Western construct of mothering and charge nurses to seek culturally sensitive interventions that reinforce positive mothering practices and identify when additional mothering support is needed across a woman's lifespan.

Diminutive Catastrophe: Clown’s Play

Diminutive Catastrophe: Clown’s Play

“Send your angel”: Augustinian Nests and Guyon’s Faint

When the Palmer covers the pulse of Guyon in Faerie Queene Il.viii, the action evokes the covering wings of the mother hen of Matthew 18:10 and God’s protective wings in the Psalms. These images come together in the writings of Augustine, in particular his Confessions and his commentary on Psalm 91. In the Confessions Augustine conveys carnal understanding and rejection of the redemptive simplicity of the Scriptures by the metaphor of a fall out of the nest of faith. An angel’s prayer for the rescue of an unfledged chicken in Book XII of the Confessions is strongly echoed in the passage of Guyon’s faint. This metaphorical fall appears in the Palmer and Guyon’s combination of presumptuous overconfidence in ethical precepts and despair over mortality in the opening of Faerie Queene II, which betrays a regressive carnality opposed to Pauline spiritual renewal. In Augustinian terms, the Word of God and sufficient ecclesiastical support for the “little one” in the faith provide the proper path to self-control through hope in the promise of eternity. In both Augustine’s early theology, and Book II of The Faerie Queene, conversion and temperance are equated in a neo-Platonic return to God.

Poultry Relief? Organic Farming May Reduce Drug Resistance

Vol. 119, No. 11 News | Science SelectionsOpen AccessPoultry Relief? Organic Farming May Reduce Drug Resistanceis accompanied byLower Prevalence of Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococci on U.S. Conventional Poultry Farms that Transitioned to Organic Practices Wendee Holtcamp Wendee Holtcamp Search for more papers by this author Published:1 November 2011https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.119-a489bCited by:3AboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Organic poultry is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. organic foods market, and many conventional poultry farms have converted to organic methods to capitalize on this demand. Among other requirements, organic growers are not allowed to use any antibiotics on chickens from hatching to slaughter. A new study indicates organic practices may help reduce the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria [EHP 119(11):1622–1628; Sapkota et al.].A growing awareness of antibiotic resistance is part of the reason for the increased consumer demand for organic meat. Conventional food animal producers rely on antibiotics not only for treating sick animals but also for nontherapeutic purposes, such as disease prevention and growth promotion. This routine use of antibiotics has been linked to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can be passed along to people from contaminated food and through occupational exposure. According to the World Health Organization, the rate at which bacterial strains are developing resistance to antibiotics far outpaces the rate at which scientists are developing new medicines that can kill the strains.A team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public Health isolated Enterococcus bacteria from feed, water, and litter collected at five conventional and five organic poultry farms in the mid-Atlantic United States. All the organic farms had recently converted from conventional techniques and were raising their first flock of organic broilers.Of the Enterococcus bacteria collected at the various farms, 46% were E. faecalis and 43% were E. faecium, with the remainder being three less common species. There were no differences in bacterial prevalence between farm types. After isolating and growing the two primary species on agar, the researchers tested them for susceptibility to 17 antimicrobial agents.Compared with those collected from conventional farms, E. faecalis strains collected from organic poultry houses were less likely to be resistant to 9 antimicrobials, with significant differences for the compounds erythromycin and tylosin. E. faecium strains from organic farms were less likely to be resistant to 11 antimicrobials, with significant differences for 5 compounds: ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, nitrofurantoin, penicillin, and tetracycline. The researchers also documented that the percentages of multidrug-resistant bacteria were significantly lower among bacterial isolates recovered from organic versus conventional farms (10% vs. 42% for E. faecalis, and 17% vs. 84% for E. faecium).E. faecalis during cell division© Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.These promising results suggest that trends in antibiotic resistance may be quickly reversed in some strains by switching to organic techniques. The researchers speculate that resistant bacteria persist on organic farms because, although organically raised broilers can be given no antibiotics from day 1 of life, the breeder farms where the eggs originate are under no restrictions on antibiotic use and may give mother hens antibiotic-laced feed. Hatcheries that subsequently supply day-old chicks to broiler farms also can inject eggs with antibiotics.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited ByInnes G, Nachman K, Abraham A, Casey J, Patton A, Price L, Tartof S and Davis M (2021) Contamination of Retail Meat Samples with Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Relation to Organic and Conventional Production and Processing: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Data from the United States National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, 2012–2017, Environmental Health Perspectives, 129:5, Online publication date: 1-May-2021. Kassem I, Kehinde O, Kumar A and Rajashekara G (2017) Antimicrobial-Resistant Campylobacter in Organically and Conventionally Raised Layer Chickens , Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 10.1089/fpd.2016.2161, 14:1, (29-34), Online publication date: 1-Jan-2017. Murray M, Salvatierra G, Dávila-Barclay A, Ayzanoa B, Castillo-Vilcahuaman C, Huang M, Pajuelo M, Lescano A, Cabrera L, Calderón M, Berg D, Gilman R and Tsukayama P (2021) Market Chickens as a Source of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in a Peri-Urban Community in Lima, Peru, Frontiers in Microbiology, 10.3389/fmicb.2021.635871, 12 Related articlesLower Prevalence of Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococci on U.S. Conventional Poultry Farms that Transitioned to Organic PracticesAug 10, 2011, 12:00:00 AMEnvironmental Health Perspectives Vol. 119, No. 11 November 2011Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 November 2011Published in print1 November 2011 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.

The effects of selection on low mortality and brooding by a mother hen on open-field response, feather pecking and cannibalism in laying hens

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of selection on low mortality in combination with brooding by a mother hen on open-field response at 5-6 weeks of age and on plumage and body condition at 42 weeks of age. Birds in the experiment were either selected for low mortality in group housing (low mortality line) or randomly selected (control line) for two generations. These lines originated from the same population. Twenty groups of 10 female birds from each line were used. Within each line, ten groups were brooded by a foster mother and ten groups were non-brooded. At 5-6 weeks of age, the chicks were tested in an open-field test for five minutes. At 42 weeks of age, plumage condition and incidence of comb lesions and toe wounds of all birds was recorded. It was found that both brooded chicks and chicks from the low mortality line were more active in the open-field test at 5-6 weeks of age, indicating that they were less fearful or had a stronger exploratory motivation. No interactions were found between selection on low mortality and brooding. Birds from the low mortality line also had a lower incidence of comb and toe wounds compared with the control line at 42 weeks of age. No effect of brooding on plumage condition or incidence of wounds was found. This study indicates that selection on low mortality is a promising way forward to reduce maladaptive behaviour in laying hens, especially if such an approach is combined with improved rearing conditions.

The jugglery of a mythophilic animal

Igrew up in a village in the Tatra Mountains. Each spring, my grandmother, who kept some fowl, allowed one of the hens to brood her eggs until the young chicks hatched. The clucking hen foraged for food for her offspring and protected them by all means; she would aggressively peck us children when we approached her young. I sometimes wondered whether the hen would have even sacrificed her own life if the lives of her brood had been at stake. Yet, when the chicks grew older, the mother hen's behaviour changed dramatically. She no longer protected her offspring, but would chase them away and no longer pecked at my siblings and me, but rather at her former darlings. When the young females became adult hens, they too hatched their own broods and the cycle continued—unless, that is, my granny's knife took them first. Quite regularly, my grandmother would also let a hen incubate the eggs of geese or ducks. Once the goslings or ducklings had hatched, the hen took care of them as if they were her own chicks, although I imagine that she must have been quite amazed to see her young marching in a row to a …

Effects of a semiochemical on feed conversion index and related indicators on fast-growing broilers housed during forty-two days

Consequences of stress in poultry may be assessed through a wide range of parameters. A semiochemical named mother hen uropygial secretion analogue (MHUSA) is known to decrease stress in broilers. Because stress influences their feeding behavior, this trial has been built so as to test the influence of MHUSA on feed conversion index and related indicators. Two hundred forty chicks were placed into 24 similar crates (10 chicks per crate) at 1 d of age. After 35 d, chickens under MHUSA presented similar feed conversion index compared with control. A treatment effect was observed on both heterophil:lymphocyte ratio and corticosterone (MHUSA < control; P ≤ 0.001 for both), indicating a lower level of stress under MHU-SA. Glucose, total cholesterol, and triglyceride values were comparable among treatments. Live weight and daily weight gain were greater under MHUSA (P < 0.01 for both), whereas daily food intake was comparable among treatments. It may be concluded from this study that broilers under MHUSA tend to better assimilate food, leading to a faster growth, because they cope better with stress in their surrounding.

Broilers (&lt;i&gt;Gallus gallus&lt;/i&gt;) are less stressed if they can smell a mother odorant

Performance, physiological and behavioural parameters of two groups of domestic chickens were compared. Chickens were raised in classical commercial conditions in buildings housing 12000 birds. One group acted as a control, while the environment of the other was perfused with MHUSA (Mother Hens' Uropygial Secretion Analogue), a synthetic analogue of a mother-hen odorant secretion which has shown its potential in reducing stress-related reactions in chickens. At the end of the rearing period the animals treated, appeared less stressed, as determined by a range of behavioural and physiological parameters. Even if there was no treatment effect on live weight, the carcasses of MHUSA treated animals were heavier and showed less scarring from fights. The influence of MHUSA was proven when it was removed from the atmosphere. Sex and age appeared to have an importance with regard to the action of MHUSA on the number of suffocated animals. There were no differences between the two groups in a variant of the tonic immobility test. Thus this semiochemical appears to have a positive effect on broiler welfare. Keywords: Broilers, welfare, behaviour, physiology, semiochemicalSouth African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 38 (3) 2008: pp. 201-206

Ultradian activity rhythms in large groups of newly hatched chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus)

A clutch of young chicks housed with a mother hen exhibit ultradian (within day) rhythms of activity corresponding to the brooding cycle of the hen. In the present study clear evidence was found of ultradian activity rhythms in newly hatched domestic chicks housed in groups larger than natural clutch size without a mother hen or any other obvious external time-keeper. No consistent synchrony was found between groups housed in different pens within the same room. The ultradian rhythms disappeared with time and little evidence of group rhythmicity remained by the third night. This disappearance over time suggests that the presence of a mother hen may be pivotal for the long-term maintenance of these rhythms. The ultradian rhythm of the chicks may also play an important role in the initiation of brooding cycles during the behavioural transition of the mother hen from incubation to brooding. Computer simulations of individual activity rhythms were found to reproduce the observations made on a group basis. This was achievable even when individual chick rhythms were modelled as independent of each other, thus no assumptions of social facilitation are necessary to obtain ultradian activity rhythms on a group level.

Are Thirty-Five Days Enough to Observe the Stress-Reducing Effect of a Semiochemical Analogue on Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) Housed Under High Density?

Two similar 400-m2 buildings, each housing 8,400 broilers of a commonly used industrial strain, were used to test the effectiveness of the semiochemical treatment known as mother hen uropygial secretion analogue (MHUSA). The birds in 1 building were exposed to MHUSA continuously during a 35-d growing period, whereas those in the other building received a placebo. The experiment was then repeated using precisely the same conditions but with the building treatment reversed to control for any building effect. The purpose of the trial was to evaluate the effect of MHUSA on growing performances (live weights) and stress indicators observed from blood samples: heterophil-lymphocyte ratio and corticosterone level. Data analysis (ANOVA) showed that MHUSA-treated broilers had a higher mean growth rate, as shown by increased live weights at both d 17 and 35 (P < or = 0.001 and P < or = 0.001, respectively). After the 35-d growing period, we observed both lower heterophil-lymphocyte ratio (P < or = 0.001) and lower corticosterone level (P < or = 0.05) for birds treated with MHUSA compared with placebo, further indicating that the birds were less stressed. We conclude that constant diffusion of MHUSA in buildings used to house broilers might enhance the welfare and growth of the bird by reducing stress.

Influence of a preen gland secretion on growth and meat quality of heavy broilers

Preen gland secretions were obtained from several hens that were rearing their chicks and the content of these secretions was analysed. From these results, a synthetic analogue of the secretions was created (given the title Mother Hen Uropygial Secretion Analogue, or MHUSA, in this study). According to a blinded, controlled experimental design, heavy broilers (strain SASSO T56N) were reared from 1 day of age in an environment treated with either MHUSA or control. At 80 days the birds were slaughtered. Post mortemcarcass weight, abdominal fat and fillet weights were then measured. Colour, pH and yield were also measured as indicators of meat quality. Broilers exposed to MHUSA had both higher carcass weights and higher fillet weights compared with control-treated birds (P < 0.05). Abdominal fat, pH, water loss and colorimetry results were similar between the treatment groups at all time points (24 h and 6 days post mortem) and also after a cooking procedure. The meat from the MHUSA birds was less yellow compared with control. It is concluded that constant exposure to MHUSA from rearing until slaughter improves growth rate in broilers without significantly affecting meat quality.