The ovary chickensor the hens raised for the intensive production of eggs, do not have a particularly easy life within the farms. Although recent rules for animal welfare impose precise criteria to be respected, some procedures must still be implemented to reduce the mortality specimens. A widespread and permitted practice by law requires that you can “Check” the terminal part of the beak or to apply a sort of glasses plastic material, generally red, to each hen bred to control forms of Plumophagy or “Pica delle Piume“(the tendency to snatch the feathers, proper or other hens) and of cannibalism.
Because the hens tear the feathers and become cannibals
The hens can tear their feathers or those of the neighbors: this behavior is called “Plumophagy“or”Pica delle Piume“In natural conditions, the hen can tear the feathers for the presence of mites and other parasites of the pens or during the wetsuit; equally the mutual” brush “can take place in stages of courtship. In these cases it is a rather delicate and limited pic pic.
In pathological conditions, on the other hand, plumophagia towards oneself or other specimens becomes more intense and violent. Mutual beccage is manifested in a way aggressive and when a tear of the feathers determines bleedingthe sight of the blood literally makes “losing your head” to the hens that come to cannibalize other specimens. In a short time, the behavior spreads within the whole group with serious consequences. In intensive farms these behaviors can derive from stress for overcrowdingnutritional deficiencies, for the excessive intensity of artificial light or for the presence of intense noises and disorder sources.
Becco cut and plastic glasses reduce cannibalism
For avoid or at least reduce these very widespread behavioral disorders especially in Intensive farmsdifferent strategies are used, including the beak cut el ‘Use of goggles.
Partial amputation, technically known as “wrapping“, It is always allowed at a regulatory level in the ovary farms (both in cage and on the ground) with the exception of biological ones and consists in the cut of the terminal, superior and lower part of the beak. It cannot be practiced in adult hens, but must be carried out in the chicks within 10 days of birth with different techniques capable of limit pain or possible infections. Generally, an automated system (a sort of robot) reduces the beak of a very precise size through a thermal blade, a laser or a kind of grinder.
Despite the precautions, certainly the eradication remains a significant amputation, given the importance of the beak for birds. It is in fact an organ highly specialized in the form, rich in glands and nerve endings, fundamental for the research And the selection of food, for the grooming of the plumage, for the construction of the nest and for the defense.
Alternatively, they are applied to the hens of plastic glasses opaque or semi -transparent, fixed through a support applied to nasal holes, in order to Reduce the front vision. These systems are necessary to prevent chickens, in high stress situations, the feathers are teard up to become cannibals, thus leading to the death of the neighboring specimens.
