COMMERCIAL BROILERS HOUSED IN AVIARY WITH ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT

Abstract

The chicken meat produced in Brazil is exported to more than 150 countries, being the world leader in exports in this sector. The Brazilian market needs to be alert to new rules and legislation of the European Commission and other important countries. Ethnical aspects of management, production and animal welfare are concepts that are gaining worldwide prominence. The objective of this report was to report the accompaniment of an environmentally enriched aviary in the Far West of Santa Catarina. The case was accompanied in a property located in Far West of the State of Santa Catarina, of chicken for export. The producer had a conventional shed with 21.500 female housed birds, with a size of 1.764 m², where a lot managed with environmental enrichment was analyzed from the lodging slaughtering for a total of 39 days. The following items were used: A bale and a half of wood shaving for each 1.000 birds, 50 cm wide, 90 cm long, 25 cm high; One nylon rope shredded for every 1.000 birds approximately 10 cm high; A perch per 1.000 birds housed, 2 meters in length and height adjustable according the age of broilers; Transparent curtain strips on every side extension of both sides with dimensions of 126 meters long x 45 meters high (56,7 m²). It was observed that the chicks had behavior of nesting around the bales of wood shaving, climbing on the perches and playing with the ropes of nylon. It was concluded that environmental enrichment is important and despite the demand of the birds for the available items, they were not enough to utilization all the birds daily. That way, it is necessary a larger quantity of the mentioned items and/or new items for entertainment of the broilers.