Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Animal Science
Advisor/Mentor
Weimer, Shawna
Committee Member
Kutz, Bryan
Second Committee Member
Graham, Danielle
Abstract
Leg health issues are a welfare problem in commercial broiler chickens and an economic issue for the broiler industry. Broilers exhibiting leg abnormalities show altered gait, reduced ability to access resources, and increased lameness incidence. These leg health issues can result from many animal and environmental factors during incubation and post-hatch. Incubation strategies may contribute to the development of leg health issues, and recent research has increased focus on incubation factors affecting embryonic development and health and welfare post-hatch. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of high (80%), low (55%), and ideal (65%) humidity on broilers behavior and leg health. From day 7 on, males had a greater (p£0.03) body weight than females for the entire population of birds. Yet no sex differences were found for birds tested for fear behavior in the emergence and isolation tests and bone morphology. While there were no significant differences between treatment or sexes for the emergence test, it was interesting to see that of the 30 focal chicks, 15 did emerge, and 15 did not. Females were more successful (57%) at escaping the bucket than males (13%) in the isolation test (p=0.01). Regarding the bone morphology, tibial volume was greater (p
Keywords
Incubation relative humidity; broiler behavioral response to stress; broiler incubation conditions; broiler welfare; broiler leg health; broiler bone morphology
Citation
Caples, C. (2025). The Effects of Incubation Humidity on Broiler Chicks. Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/anscuht/73
