Identifying welfare issues in turkey hen and tom flocks applying the transect walk method

Area of Science:

• Animal Science
• Veterinary Medicine
• Animal Welfare

Background:

• Commercial turkey flocks house males (toms) and females (hens) together, despite differing growth and physiological traits.
• Rearing environment and management may impact both sexes' welfare similarly, but this has not been extensively studied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify on-farm health and welfare issues in commercially reared hen and tom turkeys at 11 weeks of age.
• To compare welfare indicators between sexes and identify potential environmental causes.

Main Methods:

• Conducted transect walks in 20 commercial turkey flocks in Norway (Nov 2017-Mar 2018).
• Recorded immobility, lameness, wounds (head, tail, wing), size, feather loss, dirtiness, sickness, and mortality.
• Utilized ANOVA and Spearman correlations for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Common welfare issues across sexes included dirty, featherless birds, and tail/wing wounds.
• Poor litter quality correlated with increased head wounds.
• Toms exhibited significantly more tail wounds, sickness, and terminal conditions than hens.

Conclusions:

• Welfare indicators like lameness, wounds, dirtiness, and mortality were positively correlated between sexes.
• Environmental factors likely contribute to similar welfare challenges in both male and female turkeys housed together.
• Management strategies should address shared environmental causes to improve overall turkey welfare.