Adaptation of Poultry to Confinement Rearing Systems

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Abstract
Adaptation to an environment is not a single process but a syndrome, and an organism's adaptive ability depends on the physiological mechanisms which regulate the internal state, its ability to “normalize” after resumption of a non-stress environment, the capability of behavioral adaptive patterns and, finally, the ability to survive and continue ontogeny (Siegel, 1969). Organisms which have the capacity to adapt to such environmental changes and which do so in an effective way will survive (Leake, 1964). The rapid development in the last 10 years has resulted in fewer, but larger, more specialized poultry operations and has brought with it many changes in animal care. We have seen the disappearance of the backyard flock and a shift to specialized egg factories, operations with millions of broilers, and farms with hundreds of thousands of turkeys. A pronounced trend toward enviromentally-controlled housing has simultaneously resulted in widespread use of cages, increased bird densities, debeaking and dubbing of combs— practices considered by some as “stressful” to animals. More extensive use of cages has necessitated higher bird densities in order to remain economically competitive. Copyright © 1971. American Society of Animal Science. Copyright 1971 by American Society of Animal Science.

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