Toe scratches cause scabby hip syndrome lesions

Scabs and scratches in the hip region of chicken carcasses have become the single most common cause of downgrading and required trimming at processing in some areas of the United States. Repeatable correlations with microbiological agents, environment, and nutrition have not been observed. The present report provides evidence that scabs and scratches, present at processing, are the result of injuries inflicted by toenails of birds as they climb on one another. Onychectomy (removal of approximately two-thirds of the distal phalanx) of all four digits of each foot prior to chick placement resulted in 3.7 and 4.8-fold reduction in subjective lesion scores and 7 to 10-fold increases in the percentage of USDA Grade A carcasses at a commercial processing plant.