In two experiments, the effects of dietary fat and breeder hen age on relative yolk sac weight (RYSW) and total serum cholesterol (CHOL), high (HDLC) and low (LDLC) density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides (TRI), and glucose (GLU) were monitored in broiler embryos and chicks. In Experiment 1, embryos at 18 d of incubation and chicks at hatch were sampled from eggs laid by breeder hens at ...

This study evaluated and compared the efficacy of a live (intermediate plus strain) and two killed (produced from intermediate plus and intermediate strains of viruses) infectious bursal disease vaccines in commercial Isa brown cockerel chicks. Two hundred and eighty, one day old chicks were divided into four groups of seventy chicks each. Group 1, 2 and 3 were vaccinated with live vaccine, kil...

The monocular/unihemispheric sleep was studied in male and female domestic chicks reared socially. In first week post-hatching, chicks were reared in couples whilst during the second week, for half of the chicks the cospecific was maintained (Conspec-chicks) and for the other half the conspecific was removed (No-Conspec-chicks). During the first week, female chicks showed a bias for more left-e...

Young chicks were inoculated with six different strains of attaching and effacing Escherichia coli isolated from the feces of calves, pigs, chicks, and humans. Colibacilli of some serotypes had colonized the cecum of chicks by 7 days after inoculation. The characteristic lesions associated with bacterial attachment were also seen on the mucosal surface of the cecum. Electron microscopy revealed...

Feather pecking in domestic fowl is a behavioral abnormality that consists of mild or injurious pecking at feathers of conspecifics. Previously, it was shown that chicks from a high feather-pecking (HFP) and low feather-pecking (LFP) line of laying hens already differ in their propensity to feather peck at 14 and 28 days of age. As a first step in investigating a possible relationship between t...

The objectives of this experiment was to evaluate the subsequent growth and organ weights, blood profiles and cecal microbiota of broiler chicks fed pre-starter diets containing fermented soybean meal products during early phase. A total of nine hundred 1-d-old chicks were randomly assigned into six groups with six replicates of 25 chicks each. The chicks were fed control pre-starter diet with ...

Haemoglobins of chicks, yearlings and known-age sub-adults of the royal penguin were investigated by starch-gel electrophoresis at pH 8-6. Two haemoglobin components were observed in yearlings and sub-adults. These were assumed to be the haemoglobins of adults. Another three haemoglobin components were observed in 3-week-old chicks. In seven out of eight fledging chicks, these chick haemoglobin...

Life histories are state-dependent, and an individual’s reproductive decisions are determined by its available resources and the needs of its offspring. Here we test how a chick’s needs for food and protection influence parental decisions in the Antarctic petrel, Thalassoica antarctica , where the parents, due to their long breeding lifespan, are expected to give priority to their own needs bef...

Tibiotarsal rotation in ostrich chicks is a serious problem that accounts for considerable financial loss to ostrich farmers. Serum- and bone-mineral analyses of 20 ostrich chicks with tibiotarsal rotation were compared with serum- and bone-mineral analyses of eight normal ostrich chicks of comparable age, sex and body mass, and raised under identical conditions. The serum-zinc values were sign...

Chicks raised from hatching for 2 days without being able to see their feet because of cloth foot covers were less likely than controls to eat or pick up mealworms, which resemble the chicks’ feet in some respects. Instead the chicks spent much time staring at the mealworms. Similar, but perhaps weaker, effects were obtained when the toes were simply painted black. These results may reflect pro...