DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SCIENCE

College of Agriculture and Food Science

Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte 6521-A, Philippines

AS 22
PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION
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Name: Rhesty P. Nuñez Rating : __________

Lab. Schedule: Wednesday 1:00- 4:00 PM Date Submitted: March 6 2019
Lab. Instructor: Sir Cyrill John P. Godinez

Exercise No. 4
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY

I. Introduction

Proper care and management of poultry animals in a farm ensures that the birds are
healthy and being protected from diseases and maintain its quality. This will also avoid
negative effects on the landscape, environment and chicken welfare.
For poultry health management to be effective a primary aim must be to prevent the
onset of disease or parasites, to recognise at an early stage the presence of disease or
parasites, and to treat all flocks that are diseased or infested with parasites as soon as
possible and before they develop into a serious condition or spread to other flocks. To be
able to do this it is necessary to know how to recognise that the birds are diseased, the
action required for preventing or minimising disease and how to monitor for signs that the
prevention program is working. The key principles of poultry health management are:
Prevention of disease, Early recognition of disease, Early treatment of disease. As much
as is possible disease should be prevented. It is easier and less damaging to prevent
disease than it is to treat it. However, it must not be assumed that all disease can be
prevented. Inevitably, some will get past the defenses, in which case it becomes
imperative that the condition be recognised as early as possible to allow treatment or other
appropriate action to be implemented as soon as possible to bring the situation under
control to limit damage to the flock.
II. Objectives
1. To know some basic production and health management in poultry.
2. To understand the relevance of wing clipping, debeaking, blood collection and site
of administration for medication in poultry.
 III. Methodology
1. The student will visit the poultry project.
2. The student should observe precautionary measure when dealing with animals.
3. Hands-on activity on wing clipping, debeaking, blood collection and in site for
medicine administration.
4.
IV. Results and Discussion
V. Discuss the procedure in doing the wing clipping, debeaking, blood collection and site
of medicine administration done.

WING CLIPPING/ WING TRIMMING

The correct wing trimming technique

A wing trim when properly performed should not result in a bird that cannot fly, but a
bird that can fly but cannot escape. The bird should not be able to develop lift. It should
still be aesthetically pleasing.

 It is preferable to have 2 people perform the wing trim

 For larger bodied birds, use a towel to hold the bird while the assistant extends and
support the wing
 For smaller birds, you may be comfortable just restraining the bird in your hand
 The first 4-6 primary feathers bilaterally then performs a test flight. If your bird is
still able to get vertical lift while flying you can progressively trim one more
feather from each other side until no lift is achieved and only graceful flight to the
ground occurs.
A few more tips

 No wing trim is a guarantee against flight

 If possible give the bird a test flight to ensure the bird cannot achieve elevation.
 Birds will replace these trimmed feathers with each moult. So remember birds will
be able to fly after each moult.
 Light bodied birds ( including cockalets, budgies, finches and canaries) with well
developed flight muscles may be difficult to ‘de- flight’

BEAK TRIMMING/DEBEAKING
Mechanical—Beaks may be trimmed using a simple blade or scissor device such as secateurs.
This limits damage to the exact area of the cut may be the most precise method. Turkeys that
were trimmed with secateurs had very little damage to the underlying tissue and little to no
bleeding into the tissue of the stump at 24 hours after trimming. At 21 days after the trim the beak
had increased in size with extensive bone growth. The dermis at the tip had an extensive blood
supply but did not contain regenerating nerve fibers or sensory nerve endings. Regrowth of the
beak continued through 42 days after the trim, however the beak’s internal structure remained
similar to that observed at 21 days. There was no evidence of neuroma formation. There was also
no evidence of neuroma formation in Muscovy ducks that were bill-trimmed at 3 weeks old with
scissors; however, evidence of acute pain was noted in the behavioral data that were collected.
These mechanical methods rely on human precision instead of machines and, therefore, may
produce variable results.

Hot-blade—Trimming may be carried out with a heated blade which is often mechanized. This
causes some tissue damage near the cut edge. Heated blade trimming in turkeys destroyed
variable amounts of tissue immediately adjacent to the cut surface. The amount of tissue
destruction was dependant on blade temperature and the amount of time the blade was in contact
with the beak. Twenty-one days after trimming with a heated blade the epidermis was well
supplied with blood vessels, but devoid of afferent nerve fibers. At 42 days after the trim the
anatomy of the beaks was essentially the same as at 21 days after the trim except that the beaks
were larger.

Infrared beak trimming method, using a non-contact, high intensity,

infrared energy source to treat the beak tissue, is the most common
method now in use. Initially the beak surface remains intact but after a
few weeks the sharp hook of the beak erodes. Experiments have also
been conducted using lasers for beak trimming; however this
technology is not used for beak trimming on farms. A hot blade beak
trimming machine, with an electrically heated blade, is another
method that has been commonly used in the past, now being surpassed
by infrared.

BLOOD COLLECTION

Handle the chicken gently, there must be two persons to perform the collection of
blood, one should hold the chicken and one will get the blood samples.
1. One person will hold the chicken horizontally on its back using one hand to hold
the legs and places the other hand under the back to support the chicken.
 2. Pull a wing of the chicken out towards you. The vein is clearly seen inside the skin
of the chicken

3. Pluck away any small feathers that hide the vein. Disinfect the area around the
bleeding site by swabbing with 70 percent alcohol.

6. Insert the needle under the tendon. Direct the needle into the wing vein in the
direction of the flow of blood. Do not insert the needle too deeply. Keep clear of the
ulnar nerve.
7. Once the tip of the needle is in the vein, gently pull the plunger of the syringe.
Blood will flow into the syringe. If blood does not flow, release the plunger and make
a very slight adjustment to reposition the end of the needle.

8. Be patient and use a gentle suction to withdraw the blood. Chicken veins collapse
readily.
9. If a haematoma forms, try bleeding from the other wing.

10. After removing the needle, apply pressure to the vein for a few seconds to
discourage further bleeding.

11. Ideally the needle should be removed into a needle disposal container and the cap
place on the end of the syringe to prevent leakage of the serum. However in many
places these containers are not available and the cap will be placed over the needle.
TAKE CARE! Do this very carefully to avoid a needle stick injury.

12. Pull the plunger back approximately 1 cm and place the syringe at an angle with
the needle end up in a rack facilitate clotting.

VI. Questions toAnswer

1. What are the factors to consider before conducting beak trimming in poultry
animals of different ages? Why beak trimming is so important in poultry industry?
ANSWER:

Beak trimming is carried out at various ages depending on the preference of the farm
manager. The most common ages for birds to be beak-trimmed are:

 Day- old (most common)

 5-10 days old
Before beak trimming:
Do not debeak birds if the flock is not in good health or if it is undergoing from
vaccine reactions.Add Vitamin K to the drinking water 48 hours prior to trimming and
 after to prevent haemorrhages.Check the equipment and make sure that the trimming
blade has the right temperature to cauterize, but not so high to form a blister on the beak
later.

Other things to take note before performing debeaking:

– Give some preventive dose of antibiotic and vitamins fortified with Vitamin K
1-2 days before debeaking;
– Demarcate the pen so that birds debeaked can be in a different compartment;

– Empty feed from the troughs 5hours before debeaking and give feed
immediately after debeaking;
– Debeak in the coolest part of the day i.e overnight;
– Debeaking must be handled with a trained personnel;
– Prevent stampeding as much as possible during the operation;

– Use debeaking machine and it’s blade must be hot (temperature 700 to 800
degrees celcius);

– Durig debeaking birds tongue must be kept away to avoid burning by index
finger betweeen upper and lower beak;
– Trim deaks 2mm at day old or 4mm at 7 – 10 days of age
– At 10 weeks check for grown beaks, birds with long beaks should be debeaked.

Successful debeaking contributes greatly to the performance of pullets at the

laying stage.
Beak trimming is important in poultry industry.
Bird seriously injured through pecking

Beak trimming is performed early in the life of commercial hens to decrease injuries
caused by cannibalism, bullying, and feather and vent pecking. Birds naturally peck at the
environment and each other to investigate and work out where they fit into the flock (pecking
order). This behaviour can become a problem in commercial situations and many deaths have
been recorded among untrimmed hens. Feather pecking and cannibalism affects all birds in
all production systems. When laying birds are kept in systems that give the opportunity for
aggressive birds to contact many other birds, cannibalism and feather pecking can spread
rapidly through the flock and result in injuries and mortality. Mortality of up to 25–30% of
the flock can occur and cause huge mortality and morbidity problems as well as financial
losses to the farmer.
2. What are the steps that need to be performed while collecting blood samples in
poultry (chicken)?
ANSWER:

 Handle the chickens gently.

 Collect the blood samples quickly.
 Take care not to damage the vein. Damaged veins will result in haematomas being formed.
 Minimize the loss of blood. This minimizes trauma to the chickens and stress to their owners.
The owners are then more likely to cooperate by supplying chickens for the collection of blood
samples in the future.

3. What are the importance of understanding the site for administration for
medication in poultry and its relevance to health management?
ANSWER:

Proper vaccination and immunization is an essential part of a good poultry

management program and for the success of any poultry operation. Effective preventive
procedures such as immunization protect hundreds of millions of poultry worldwide from
many contagious and deadly diseases and have resulted in improved flock health and
production efficiency.

4. Discuss the importance of implementing biosecurity measures in a farm.

ANSWER:

Biosecurity is a practice designed to prevent the spread of disease onto the farm. It is
accomplished by maintaining the facility in such a way that there is minimal traffic of
biological organisms (viruses, bacteria, rodents, etc.) across its borders. Biosecurity is the
cheapest, most effective means of disease control available. No disease prevention program
will work without it. In addition, Biosecurity practices and farm hygiene are implemented on
poultry farms to reduce the risk of disease agents moving on to farms from outside sources (
eg. Wild bird population or from other farms), farmers take range of precautions to prevent
entry of diseases onto the farm.

5. Conclusion
Proper care and management of poultry animals gives purpose to everything else.
Healthy bids can give us more profit while unhealthy birds in the farm can give us financial
losses. It is concluded that through performing properly of debeaking, wing trimming and
collecting of blood samples can improve the health and safety of the birds. By doing properly
the farm operations ensures that the birds can possibly have a good performance and good
growth. It is important to consider the health of the birds to maintain its quality, performing
wing clipping ensures that birds can’t escape to their fences and to avoid it from danger to
other animals inside the farm, beak trimming reduces peck injuries and death of other birds
and proper collecting of blood samples helps the safety of the birds and not to damage the
vein. Properly caring and managing birds helps ensure profitability and prevents financial
losses.

VII. References
http://www.poultryhub.org/health/health-management/
http://www.fao.org/3/ac802e/ac802e0a.htm
http://www.poultryhub.org/health/health-management/beak-trimming/
https://agrospan.com.ng/2017/04/21/procedures-to-successful-debeaking/
https://www.livestocking.net/debeaking-or-beak-trimming-in-poultry-production