Importantly, spraying feathers with an aversive agent
is amanagement tool which may raise concerns. The practice
ignores the underlying motivation of the birds and does
not address the decrease in the feather peckers welfare if
severe feather pecking has beneficial consequences for thepecker (e.g. gastro-intestinal benefits due to increasing gut
motility via ingested feathers). However, a recent epidemiological
study in the UK showed that 68.5% of laying hen
flocks at 25 weeks of age and 85.6% of laying hen flocks at 40
weeks of age showed severe feather pecking and plumage
damage (Lambton et al., 2010). The authors recommend
greatest weight should be given to improve environmental
rearing and laying conditions (e.g. beneficial and appropriate
foraging material) to decrease the problem of feather
pecking. However, when management attempts fail, spraying
with an aversive agent could be a solution during laying
(Harlander-Matauschek et al., 2010). So, aversive chemicals
are best considered a part of integrated strategies to reduce
severe feather pecking in problem flocks.