Effect of age of beak trimming on the production performance of hens

The effect of age at beak trimming (at hatch, or 10 or 42 days) on the production performance of 2 Australian commercial laying strains (brown egg and a tinted egg layer) was assessed by measuring egg production, food intake, food efficiency, egg weight, egg gradings and body weights of chickens from 19 to 82 weeks of age. Beak trimming removed one half of the upper beak and one third of the lower beak from birds. The tinted egg strain trimmed at hatching was the most efficient of all treatment groups. Layers not trimmed consumed significantly more food, laid fewer eggs and had poorer food efficiency than beak trimmed birds. Early in lay there was no difference in daily egg production with age at beak trimming, but by 50 weeks of age, birds trimmed at hatching or 42 days were producing more eggs than those trimmed at 10 days of age. Chickens trimmed at hatching consumed less food than chickens trimmed at 10 days, and in the late laying phase (67-82 weeks) all beak trimmed groups had significantly lower food intake than control hens. These results show that age of beak trimming influences performance and that considerable saving in food costs for the Australian Poultry Industry can be achieved by trimming half of the top beak and one third of the bottom beak of chickens at hatching.