MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

ABSTRACT: The health and welfare of aging chickens is not often considered due to their lack of production worth. Additionally, post-fertility roosters are at a higher risk for illness and prone to the harmful symptoms of heat stress. This study examines the relationships between age, internal and external physiology, and thermoregulation of older roosters. Correlations between external traits and thermal status could then be incorporated into the assessment of the welfare of aging roosters. This study tested the carcass characteristics, cloacal temperature, and radiative temperatures of eight roosters at over 80 weeks of age. The study found strong positive correlations between physiologically expected carcass characteristics including body weight and cloacal temperature (P<.10), and wattle area and fat pad weight (P<0.5). A weaker positive correlation was also found between the cloacal temperature and the testes weight (P<0.10). There was a negative correlation between the radiative heat of the legs inside the holding cage and the radiative temperatures when outside of the cage. There was also a slight positive correlation between the external wattle area and the radiative heat from the feet (P<0.05) but not with the body temperature.

WC = 188

READER’S PROFILE: I imagine a reader that is skeptical that my research should be published, a reviewer

READER’S RESPONSE: Why were there so few chickens used in this study? What makes this study unique from the other studies that just tested one of these traits? Well, I suppose the addition of the thermal regulation analysis makes this unique. However, can we really trust results based on only eight roosters? Why roosters instead of hens? Oh, well maybe this is just a preliminary study and they will do more studies in this area. I would like to read about those and see if these trends continue.

K, can you teach them about the uses of chickens in ag? Hens as layers and as broilers. Roosters, primarily to build new chicken stock. Your work is to establish the conditions under which we keep roosters healthy during their short life spans.

You can also add a note how animal studies use small samples to explore relationships and develop new lines of inquiry. We do not have near as many roosters in Big AG as hens, actually, so the smaller numbers are part of the market condition.