Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 55
1 Q. But some birds would not be able to reach that, the smaller
2 birds, or the sick birds, or whatever, would not be able to
3 reach it, would they?
4 A. There is a possibility that that is the case.
5
6 Q. So they would basically die of thirst?
7 A. If they are very small birds, they devise ways of
8 drinking. In other words, I have seen little birds jump on
9 the other's backs to drink but, by and large, the drinkers
10 are set so that birds can drink.
11
12 Q. But apart from jumping on the other's birds backs, some
13 birds are bound to die of thirst, are they not?
14 A. I would not accept that birds die of thirst. I think
15 if they are not going drink there is something pretty
16 radically wrong with them anyway.
17
18 Q. I am saying if they cannot reach the height of the
19 drinkers?
20 A. In the hypothetical case that they cannot reach the
21 drinkers then they would die.
22
23 Q. Well it is not hypothetical, is it, if they are set at a
24 height above what they can reach?
25 A. I think you have to understand, you probably have not
26 been in a poultry house, the drinkers are very flexible in
27 the heights that they can be put at. Not all the drinkers
28 are going to be at exactly the same height. We have
29 already described that environment/index.html">litter can be at variable depths
30 throughout the house. There will be drinkers at various
31 different heights and that seems to accommodate pretty well
32 for the difference in bird size: Life just is not as
33 organised and as accurate as you perhaps think it might be.
34
35 Q. You said that egg laying birds have greater tendency
36 towards flight than heavier birds, that is what you said in
37 your examination with Mr. Rampton. Would that apply to
38 broilers and battery hens, that the broilers have a less
39 tendency to fly than the battery hens?
40 A. Broilers do not fly.
41
42 Q. But the battery hens would have a greater tendency to fly
43 if they could?
44 A. I do not know. I am not commenting about battery hens
45 because I have no experience of them.
46
47 Q. But generally egg laying flocks have a tendency to?
48 A. I may have been talking about breeder birds in which
49 case they do have a tendency to fly, breeder egg layer
50 birds.
51
52 MS. STEEL: May I just ask this: Is that because the birds in
53 the broilers are younger or is that because they are
54 heavier?
55 A. The breeder birds can be quite heavy and they can still
56 fly, so it is not just weight related.
57
58 Q. You said they were half the weight?
59 A. Weight for age.
60
