Tauson R¹⁾; Kjaer J²⁾; Maria G A³⁾; Cepero R³⁾ and Holm, K-E¹⁾

Egg production is an important agricultural activity in the EU, and one that is generally very intensive. In response to societal concern about the welfare of laying hens, Directive 1999/74/EC sets minimum standards for their protection. Battery cages, in their current form, are being phased out (by 2012) and new farming practices (furnished cages and non-cage systems) have emerged. As data accumulate, it is important to acquire a clear picture of animal welfare determinants in furnished cages, aviaries, and free-range systems. Scoring birds for their integument and health is often used to evaluate the effects of different treatments in research especially as regards housing systems.
 

Need for a common scoring system

When working in the LAYWEL EU-project (502315) it was found that several different methods for scoring of birds’ integument are often used to describe the effects of various treatments in research on the health and welfare of laying hens. This indicated a need for a common system facilitating comparisons between experiments. Also in commercial egg production and breeding there is need for having a tool to describe the status of a certain flock of birds or a pure line. Among the main traits to score are plumage and foot condition and pecking wounds on different parts of the body. Scores for these traits may describe problems of feather pecking, perch design and litter condition and cannibalistic or aggressive behaviours, respectively.

Hence, for the future it was decided to propose and describe a new and practical scoring system. Important characteristics of a scoring system are e.g. the simplicity of the system for users to learn and to use at the same time being descriptive enough in details.
 

The present paper gives background and introduction as well as describes a scoring method for six body parts as regards plumage condition and for pecking wounds on comb and rear part of the body and finally, the condition of the foot as regards bumble foot syndrome. The manual includes 61 photographs of target birds representative for each score for brown and white genotypes. The intention is that this system should be easy to use by scorers of different background e.g. scientists, administrators, welfare inspectors, breeders and producer organisations. When used to the system scoring a bird for all characters will not exceed 30 seconds for one person.