A STUDY OF LEG ANOMALY CAUSED BY CONFINING CHICKENS IN SMALL CAGES

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Abstract
Chickens isolated in small cages developed leg weakness and, finally, leg deformities. In the terminal stages, the leg bones were deformed and the Achilles tendon slipped over the condyle. Wasting of the leg tissue usually accompanied the disorder. When compared with chickens brooded in a battery, the birds raised in small cages were inferior in the capacity of their gastrocnemius muscles to perform work. There was no evidence of dehydration of the muscle tissue. Nutrition and other phases of management were not related to the development of the anomaly. Lymphomatosis was detected by histological examination to some extent in all loss of birds, hence it did not appear to be the causal factor of this anomaly. A method was developed for measuring the comparative fatigability of the gastrocnemius muscle of chickens when stimulated by a tetanizing current. Criteria for comparison were the time required to do equal amounts of work, the rate of work performed in a definite interval, and the height to which a load could be lifted after this initial period of equal work.

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