Mercury concentrations, together with nitrogen and carbon stable isotope signatures, were determined in body feather samples from northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis and great skuas Catharacta skua, and in different flight feathers from great skuas. There were no significant relationships between trophic status, as defined using isotope analysis, and mercury concentration in the same feather ty...

Understanding migratory connectivity for species of concern is of great importance if we are to implement management aimed at conserving them. New methods are improving our understanding of migration; however, banding (ringing) data is by far the most widely available and accessible movement data for researchers. Here, we use band recovery data for American black ducks (Anas rubripes) from 1951...

A selection experiment was initiated in 1996 in which selection for (HP line) and against (LP line) feather pecking was performed. The foundation stock was a White Leghorn layer strain established in 1970 and maintained since then as a random bred control line at the Institute. Six hatches were produced over three generations. At the age of 68 weeks (generation 0, 1996), 35 weeks (generation 1,...

481 fresh fertilized eggs of three Kurdish local chickens (Black with brown neck, White with shank feathering, and White with non-feathering shank) were collected at pre-molting (355 eggs) and post-molting (126 eggs) stages to evaluate external egg traits. A venine caliper was used to determine the length and breadth of eggs to calculate Shape index. Results indicated that egg weight increased ...

We captured Nelson's, Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows (Ammodramus nelsoni, A. caudacutus and A. maritimus) at three salt marsh sites near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina during five non-breeding seasons (September through April, 2006-2011). We analyzed breast feather samples from all of these seasons and blood and first primary feather (P1) samples from three seasons (2008-2011) for mercury (...

Numbers of Campylobacter detected on broiler carcasses decrease due to scalding but rebound during defeathering. Earlier research indicated that escape of gut contents during defeathering is an important contributor to the increase in Campylobacter numbers, whereas aerosols created by feather picking machines are not. The objective of this study was to determine if contact with surfaces in natu...

Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are the leading causes of enteric infections in many developed countries. Healthy chickens are considered to act as reservoirs of campylobacters, as the organisms colonize the intestinal tract. Once infected birds enter a processing plant, contamination of chicken carcasses with campylobacters occurs over the entire skin during defeathering and evisceration due ...

Feather pecking in laying hens is a major welfare and production problem for commercial egg producers, resulting in mortality, loss of production as well as welfare issues for the damaged birds. Damaging outbreaks of feather pecking are currently impossible to control, despite a number of proposed interventions. However, the ability to predict feather damage in advance would be a valuable resea...

The NRC (1996) changed from the factorial protein system to a metabolizable protein (MP) system for beef cattle. In the MP system, dietary crude protein (CP) is subdivided into degraded intake protein (DIP) and undegraded intake protein (UIP). The quantity of microbial protein produced in the rumen dictates DIP requirements. Steam-flaked corn is the predominant grain used in the diets of finish...

Olfaction may play an important role in regulating bird behavior, and has been suggested to be involved in feather-pecking. We investigated possible differences in the body odors of red junglefowl females by using an automated olfactometer which assessed the ability of trained mice to discriminate between the odors of uropygial gland secretions (the main carrier of potential individual odors in...