Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 11, Number 3, DeMotte, Jasper County, 5 December 1940 — Overcrowding Has Effect On Poultry Cannibalism [ARTICLE]

Overcrowding Has Effect On Poultry Cannibalism

While feather picking, cannibalism, and egg eating are in part the refsult of dietary deficiencies, overcrowding is important among the causes, according to'H W. Titus of the federal bureau of poultry nutrition. It has been found that feather [picking is less likely to occur if the diet contains about 20 per cent of barley or oats. “Cannibalism” is a term used by some poultrymen in referring to the habi^ sometimes developed by chickens of picking one another’s toes, tombs, vents, feathers, and other parts of the body. Used in this sense, the term also includes feather picking; it is however, more common to restrict its use to those cases where blood is drawn. Cannibalism is of most frequent occurrence in overcrowded flocks, but it may be due to some as yet unknown deficiency of the diet because the feeding of Oats and barley appears to be of some value in prevention. The use of ruby-colored window panes and ruby-colored electric lamps in the poultry house is often a simpler means of preventing cannibalism. Egg eating ;is also likely to develop as a result of overcrowding; however, the tendency to eat eggs is markedly stimulated by a deficiency of calcium in the diet.