Authors:

Emma Bartley

Date Created:

Not specified

Course Title:

Professor:

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About Paper:

Indiana is the number one producer of duck products in the United States. The industry has noticed an increasing occurrence of individuals suffering from flip-over. Flip-over is a welfare concern where a duck falls onto their back and struggles to return to its feet, which can lead to scars on the shoulders/hips. Little information is known about how these events result in scarring or what hinders the ducks' ability to right themselves; however, the tail may play a role in the body righting reflex. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between tail flexion and likelihood of flip-over and determine if presence of scaring was influenced by the number of flip-over events. Pictures of 1200 Pekin hens were taken at 23 and 30 days of age. Ducks were held by their legs with their dorsal side facing the camera. Images were graded concerning tail flexion and flip-over scar presence. Counts of each time an individual duck was found flipped over were also utilized. R Studio was used to run odds ratio analysis. No significant difference in the presence of scarring was found between the group experiencing one versus multiple flip-over events (P = 0.85). Individuals not flexing their tail tended to be 1.28 times more likely to experience a flip-over event (P = 0.09). These results highlight potential importance of the tail reflex in body righting and that the number of flip-over events a duck experiences may not influence an individuals' odds of scarring.

Source:

Purdue University / 2023

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Emma Bartley