Perching

Provision of perches for daytime use allows resting birds and subordinate birds to separate themselves from active or aggressive birds, respectively. Provision of perches for daytime use can therefore help to reduce feather loss from injurious pecking.

Provision of perches for daytime use allows resting birds and subordinate birds to separate themselves from active or aggressive birds, respectively. Provision of perches for daytime use can therefore help to reduce feather loss from injurious pecking.

At night, hens are motivated to seek high roosting spots and will do so when given the opportunity. To allow all birds to roost at night, a minimum of 15cm raised perch provision per bird is necessary. Birds provided with this level of provision have been shown to have reduced stress, reduced fearfulness and improved body condition.

Birds love to perch, and this was recognised as a mandatory requirement under Freedom Food rules in October 2018. Consequently, all flat deck system owners now must fit in 2 linear metres of suitable perching space per 1000 birds or 0.3m² of platform into their laying hen houses. These structures must be no more than 15cm off the ground. There is no requirement for these perches to be an individual specific length, just that the total must add up to the required amount for the birds present. The design also has to allow the bird’s feet to be able to grip the perch.

There is no definite directive on which perching or platforms have to be used just that the design has to ‘provide a means by which the birds can elevate themselves above the floor’. As a result, we see many differing types of perches. Some of these include alcathene piping which is cable tied to the edge of slats or constructed into A-frames. Over feeder perch support plates have been used to place perches over the existing feed tracks. Other farms have suspended contraptions from the ceilings or circular steel pipes have been welded into high rise constructions.

All this new furniture in the house has made getting about on the slats for personnel a bit more difficult in some cases and some producers raised this as a health and safety issue, especially where in lay spray vaccines for Infectious Bronchitis were being administered to the birds in low lighting levels. In some cases, the addition of perches raised the amount of system eggs as there were more nooks and crannies for the hens to lay in.

It is important during rearing that birds have furniture in the rearing houses to accustom them to jumping up and down before they are transferred to the laying accommodation. This is now standard practice.

One of the more problematic issues arising when the perching requirements came into effect was the difficulty in controlling red mite burdens in some houses. The hollow perching provided an ideal area for mites to proliferate, where mites would sit in the open ends of the perches during the days and crawl out under the cover of darkness to feed on the perching birds. We found that once these open ends were sealed or capped, systemic treatments like Exzolt or spot spraying with a product such as Dergall became much more effective.

Disinfection of the perching system is another consideration at turnaround. The complex structure of some perches requires prolonged cleaning times to ensure all organic matter is removed to allow for effective disinfection.

Overall, perching is beneficial to the comfort and welfare of the birds.