Abstract
1. Four mechanical poultry killing devices; modified Armadillo (MARM), modified Rabbit Zinger (MZIN), modified pliers (MPLI) and a novel mechanical cervical dislocation gloved device (NMCD), were assessed for their killing potential in the cadavers of euthanised birds of 4 type/age combinations: layer/adult, layer/pullet, broiler/slaughter-age and broiler/chick.
2. A 4x4x4 factorial design (batch x device x bird type + age) was employed. Ten bird cadavers per bird type and age were tested with each of the 4 devices (N = 160 birds). All cadavers were examined post-mortem to establish the anatomical damage caused by each device.
3. Three of the mechanical methods: NMCD, MARM and MZIN demonstrated killing potential, as well as consistency in their anatomical effects, with device success rates of over 50% indicating that the devices performed optimally more than half of the time. NMCD had the highest killing potential, with 100% of birds sustaining the required physical trauma to have caused rapid death.
4. The MPLI was inconsistent, and only performed optimally for 27.5% of birds, despite good killing potential when performing well. Severe crushing injury was seen in >50% of MPLI birds, suggesting that birds would die of asphyxia rather than cerebral ischaemia, a major welfare concern. As a result, the modified pliers are not recommended as a humane on-farm killing device for chickens.
5. This experiment provides important data on the killing potential of untried novel percussive and mechanical cervical dislocation methods, informing future studies.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 216 - 223 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | British Poultry Science |
Volume | 58 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 15 Mar 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | First published - 15 Mar 2017 |
Bibliographical note
1024917Keywords
- Animal welfare
- Cervical dislocation
- Killing
- Percussive
- Post-mortem
- Poultry
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Martin, J. E. (Participant) & Sandilands, V. (Participant)
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