Perinatal effects on feather pecking in laying hens Elske de Haas Behavioural Ecology Group & Adaptation Physiology Group Included contributions from the members of the prenatal COST review paper Jo Edgar, Joergen Kjaer, Inma Estevez, Anja Riber, Andrew Janczak, Ivan Dimitrov, Bas Rodenburg, Valentina Ferrante, Sezen Ozkan GroupHousenet COST Action Training School Bilbao, Spain, November 2017
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Perinatal effects on feather pecking in laying hens - Perinatal effects... · Overview What is the perinatal period Prenatal – maternal effects + incubation Postnatal – early
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Perinatal effects on feather pecking in laying hens
Elske de Haas
Behavioural Ecology Group & Adaptation Physiology Group
Included contributions from the members of the prenatal COST review paper
Jo Edgar, Joergen Kjaer, Inma Estevez, Anja Riber, Andrew Janczak, Ivan
Dimitrov, Bas Rodenburg, Valentina Ferrante, Sezen Ozkan
GroupHousenet
COST Action Training School
Bilbao, Spain, November 2017
Overview
What is the perinatal period
● Prenatal – maternal effects + incubation
● Postnatal – early life rearing
How and why prenatal effects could play a role in feather
pecking
Epigenetic modulators
● Maternally derived yolk hormones
● DNA–methylation
● Gene-expression influence on behaviour
Transgenerational effects
Incubation: light, noise, temperature and olfactory cues
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Perinatal period
Prenatal period: at conception up to hatch
Postnatal period: immediately after hatch
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ScienceAlert Filipe Vanecio
Prenatal and postnatal period
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Synapse
formation Myelination
fine tuning circuits
Critical period in development of SFP?
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Critical period? Huber-Eicher and Sebo, 2001
Studies Jerine van der Eijk feather pecking lines
Prenatal -
mammal
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Lupu et al., 2012 Aging and Disease “Long term” exposure to maternal hormones, toxins, nutrients, environmental insults etc..
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Li et al., 2012 Prog Neurobiol.
Envi
ron
men
tal f
acto
rs
Feather pecking = abnormal “excessive”
pecking behaviour (Rodenburg et al., 2013)
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Li et al., 2012 Prog Neurobiol.
Feather pecking =
• Coping with stressors
• Altered serotonergic and dopaminergic
functioning
(van Hierden et al., 2002; 2004; Kops et al., 2013;
2014)
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At hatch: 3000-4000 follicles Only one ovary (60-80cm oviduct) Starts at yolk formation: takes 7 -10 days Development of the egg: 24-28 hours Rotating yolk Egg contains: approximate 13% protein, 11% fat, minerals (iron), vitamin A B and D, H2O, cholesterol Yolk is mostly unsaturated fat
Higher basal maternal corticosterone with lower average egg
weight on flock level
De Haas et al., 2013 Poultry Science
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Physiology and feather damage mothers on early life FP
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De Haas et al., 2014 PLOS 1
Variation in yolk testosterone between farms bigger
than within farms
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Yolk androgens and maternal physiology
Only 8 sample points of 2 hybrids
No indication that androstenedione was related to CORT or 5-HT
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Egg parameters and feather pecking
Caution! Likely overestimation
But potential direction of research – that egg condition may
play a role in feather pecking in offspring
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R² = 0.4023
55.0
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Egg w
eig
ht
at
peak o
f la
y (
gr)
Severe feather pecking at one week of age (pecks/20min)
Early life effects “prenatal”
Genotype * maternal effect?
● Only in white layer flocks “maternal effect” were recorded
Genotype * early life environment?
● In brown layer flocks early life environment appears more important
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De Haas et al., 2014 Plos 1
Early life conditions
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Consequences on feather pecking
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De Haas et al., 2014 Plos 1
De Haas et al., 2014 AABS
Higher odds ratio of feather damage at lay
when housed on wire
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Tahamtani et al., 2016 Poultry Science
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Prenatal incubation effects
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Natural incubation
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Sound
Hen vocalizations
Internal vocalizations siblings
External vocalizations siblings
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Light
Light pulses – hen leaves/turns egg
Light entering via egg shell
Natural light or relative dark
Right eye exposed
Temperature
Body temperature of hen
Leaving eggs at end of incubation
Smell
Pheromones of hen
Smell of feaces
Smell of nest
Chemosensory learning?
Development of systems during incubation
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Auditory system matures at E12 Thermal regulation system matures at E15 Visual system matures at E17 Olfactory discrimination at E20
Light – post hatch effects Light vs. dark
● 12L:12D vs. dark: less stress, better immunity (Archer and Mench, 2013; Özkan et al.2013)
● 16L:8D vs. dark: higher GFP, SFP, preening first weeks of life more dustbathing, higher growth and feed efficiency reduced fearfulness (Dayıoğlu and Özkan, 2012)
There are indications that prenatal factors could influence the risk for the development of damaging feather pecking in laying hens, but further research is needed to elucidate the exact mechanisms