Marked for Success? The US Department of Agriculture Livestock
Behavior Research Unit's Dr. Heng-Wei Cheng and graduate
researchers Rachel L. Dennis and Alan G. Fahey study the impact
of identification on poultry welfare. Artificial marking and
tagging for identification purposes is integral to animal
research, including the utilization of animals as models for
biomedical, agricultural and wildlife experimentation. A variety
of identification systems is available, and researchers often
choose a method based on experimental design or convenience.
Examples include tags containing data about the individual or
marks that can be seen from a distance, with little known of
their effects on the animals or experimental results. Our
research group investigated the potential side effects of four
popular identification systems used in poultry research. The
birds' behavioral and physiological changes associated with leg
bands, wing bands, neck tags and livestock marker applied to
tail feathers were examined in comparison