Vent pecking in poultry
Forum: Vent pecking in Broilers
Vent pecking is seen in 30 day old broiler birds in the farm refer as Cannibalism. Cannibalistic behavior performed by poultry is the pecking, tearing and consuming of skin, tissues, the case i met with birds have started pecking cloaca l region in some case intestine it is to harsh that intestinal loop drop outside through wound. However, this problem has been a consistent problem in layers but can also be encountered in broilers as i do. The I.B.D has been ruled out by P.M examination here and the bird are medicated with a salt solution as Cannibalism has been linked to deficiencies in protein, sodium and phosphorus, with increase in number of drinkers and feeders also supplied with Vit C as a stress reliever as the high temperature might be a cause of problem.
Please throw light on this topic so that it is efficiently deal with.
salam dr.Rahul
I think the real causes of vent pecking is bad management inside poultry house like overcrowding , high density of light inside poultry house ,high level of salts in ratio or may be in drinking water or as you say protien difficiencies so when u treat all these problems u can over the case.
Additionally, another cause might be low levels of methionine or lysine. Birds are initially pecking feathers and later on vent as well.
vent pecking has many factors but will highlight the main ones low level of salt in the feed, low energy levels in the feed, low protein over crowding, heat stress, inadquate feeders and drinkers so for you to correct it check for the above problems if they are there.
I agree with Dr. Rahu and Manyanyil, vent pecking is the cause of bad management especially overcrowding, light intensity inadequate feeders and drinkers. Normally a farmer will buy the correct balanced feed from a company. if other farmers that buy their feed from the same company does not have the same problem the problem is not feed related but management orientated.
Jan Grobbelaar South Africa
Try as Under:-
1.Avoid over crowding
2.spread some red-coloured tiny 1 inch long grass sized papers on the littre to distract birds from pecking
3.Check salt content of the feed it is very low
4.Pecked and affected bird should be isolated as soon as seen in the shed and treated--apply neem oil on affected area
Above will certainely help to reduce the problem
Dr S Chandra
Pune India
May minerals defficieny & ca defficiency prone the condition?
I want to get it clear by Dr Senthil Kumar. How can you say it is sodium and chloride deficiency only by observing photo only or not analyzing feed for sal deficiency?
DR PAWALE N.H. , KARNAL
To overcome from Vent pecking, follows:
Reduce light,
Give Salt 1.5g/L DW
SanCal-p/ Calcium- Double Dose
Thank you Dr Senthi Kumar for your kind reply, I have also successfully treated vent pecking cases in broiler with addition on salt in drinking water and keeping some pieces of red color plastic in flock to divert birds mind from picking, and also providing some additional space to birds.
I thought you might have noted some specific pathological lesions in ante/postmortum examination in salt deficiency, specifically in vent picking.
This is an extremely bad behavior when birds learn how to pecking and cannibalise on other birds. The very important first way to manage this problem is to avoid the birds from learning it, this is because when the habit is learnt any small amount of stress will make the birds resort to pecking.
I lost 15% of my flock to this behavior. The lessons learnt were as follows:
1. Immediate cause was inadequate feeding due to oversized pellets that were not pallatable
2. Heat stress
My immediate remedy was change in diet, increased ventilation and reduced light intensity - this completely cured the problem. However very small stress due to inadequate feed immediately retriggered the problem with disastrous effect.
Vent pecking in broilers - one of the causes could be infected litter. Litter is build up on poultry shed of various material from different sources which are the carrier of multiple infection. Over a period of time the infection in litter starts multiplying due to presence of litter moisture, increase of bacterial load & increase of pH 8 – 9.
When birds sit on the litter – the infected litter could infect the cloacal opening(infection may travel inside the Gi tract due to reverse peristalsis) causes irritation/redness in the vent and other birds may peck the vent.
One of the control is to use of litter conditioner at the rate of 10 Kg per 1000 Sq. Ft. of floor space. Bring down the pH of litter to pH 4 – 4.5. It controls litter infection TVC control upto 99%, E.coli control up to 100%. Healthy litter controls infection to cloaca will lead to almost NIL vent pecking.
- Dr C S Bedi
Hy-Line International
In vent pecking we should analyse salt content,overcrowding,things which contain iron content helps us in curement.Also have a focus on light intensity.
Almost all key grounds for vent pecking in broilers have been discussed by scientists / experts in this forum. Some cases have been found contributing to vent pecking due to the Lesser mealworm or Darkling beetle (Alphitobius diaperinus) and the Hide Beetle (Dermestes maculates) as they are nocturnal in nature and may bite birds & damage skin of birds which may attract birds towards vent pecking behavior. These cases were abundant in layers earlier when deep litter system was in practice to raise layers birds.
Thanks,
G.K.Dahal
United States
