Mutilations in poultry European poultry production systems

In the light of these two approaches, i.e. alternatives for mutilations and refinement of methods, the most common mutilations for poultry will be discussed. In this review we address beak treatments, toe clipping, de-spurring and dubbing in laying hens, parent flocks and turkeys. Finally the situation in Europe with regards to legislation and current practices will be presented. Mutilations Not all cutting, clipping or trimming parts of the animal’s body is a mutilation. In this paper a mutilation is defined as removing or damaging a part or parts of the body, not being the horny dead body tissue and feathers. A mutilation therefore is directed on living tissue and often involves nervous and circulatory tissue. Although it is very hard to prove, it is very likely to cause acute pain. Not all tissues, however, are equally innervated and thus it is plausible that the impact will vary for the various mutilations. Cutting a part of the beak is usually referred to as beak trimming. However, as more gentle methods are developed that are less strenuous for the animal, this should be reflected in the terminology. Therefore in this paper the more gentle measures are called beak treatments. Also, if beak trimming and beak treatments are discussed in general, they are referred to as beak treatments. Beak trimming will only be used for treatments of birds of 5 weeks or older. Not all mutilations are applied to all species. In table 1 an overview is given of the mutilations that will be discussed in this paper and the species that are involved. As this paper addresses only mutilations applied in the Netherlands, some mutilations common in other countries are not discussed. An example is beak trimming in Ducks, which is not allowed in the Netherlands.