Day 020 - 28 Jul 94 - Page 80
1 for infection of earlier onset?
A. That is correct.
2
Q. Finally, this, Dr. Gregory. I want to ask you a little
3 bit about the comparative advantages and disadvantages of
battery against what are called free range egg layers:
4 You mentioned some of the advantages enjoyed by free range
hens. Do free range hens get parasites?
5 A. They can do.
6 Q. Is that a problem if they do?
A. It can be.
7
Q. What are the reasons why free range hens, some of the
8 reasons why free range hens indulge themselves in dust
baths?
9 A. There are two possible reasons. One is with regard to
manipulating the oil or fat content of the plumage. The
10 other one is to alleviate ecto-parasites.
11 Q. Those are parasites on the outside of the body?
A. Correct.
12
Q. I do not know whether chickens get ticks, but that kind of
13 thing?
A. Mites, in particular.
14
Q. Do free range hens also get endoe-parasites?
15 A. They can do.
16 Q. How common are either of those forms of parasite amongst
battery chickens?
17 A. Unusual -- very unusual.
18 Q. I think you mentioned cannibalism as a possible cause of
problems amongst free range chickens?
19 A. It can be.
20 Q. Leading on some occasions to death?
A. That is correct.
21
Q. How common is cannibalism amongst battery chickens?
22 A. Where it occurs, it tends to be in isolated cages. It
is very rare for it to be extensive in a battery shed.
23 Where we have assessed cannibalism, I think the level may
have been 1 per cent in a battery unit compared with, in
24 the case of -- we had a comparable barn treatment -- it
was 16 per cent.
25
Q. Sorry, a barn?
26 A. It was a so-called perchery system, not quite free
range, it is an indoor extensive -- indoor, loose housed.
27
Q. Are chickens in batteries and chickens in free range
28 establishments vulnerable to different sorts of diseases,
or do they all suffer from the same sorts of disease?
29 A. They are vulnerable to the same and to different
diseases.
30
Q. Are free range chickens in any significant sense in a well
