Protecting Laying Hens from Keel Bone Fracture
Keel Bone Fractures in Laying Hens: A Systematic Review of Prevalence across Age, Housing Systems, and Strains In modern egg production, laying hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) face a number of clinically evident welfare problems, of which keel bone damage is among the most prevalent. The challenge of accurately describing the extent of KBF prevalence has reflected on the multifactorial nature of the problem. T he implementation of non-cage housing systems allows for hens to participate in more natural behaviors that are limited in a conventional caging system One consequence is a greater risk for keel bone damage to occur as well as a possibility of the hen to feel pain associated with that Keel bone damage and the possibility of pain can lead to a decreased welfare quality status of the hen and may impact other areas such as production. Growing Interest in Keel Bone Damage It is widely recognized that today’s laying hen has poor skeletal health. Specifically, damage and fracture