Animal care and welfare: the responsibilities of pet owners
The animal owner or carer must check on the animals’ welfare at least twice a day by direct visual inspection.
Furthermore, the animal caretaker must also check all housing and care facilities daily to ensure they are in good working order (see TierSchNutztV § 4 General requirements for monitoring, feeding and care).
In order to develop a positive relationship between humans and animals, contact with the animal must take place frequently and in a calm manner, right from the very first days of life.
Animal-friendly management of the herd
When carrying out any work in the shed, the ducks must be handled calmly to prevent them from being startled when approached and to avoid causing unnecessary agitation within the flock:
- Avoid abrupt, hasty movements
- No prolonged or sudden loud noises
- No sudden, intense light
The ducks should be gently accustomed to the regular performance of certain tasks.
- The herding of the ducks must always be carried out calmly and slowly. Any obstacles that could injure the ducks should be removed beforehand.
- The smaller the group and the calmer the herding process, the less agitated the ducks will be and the lower the risk of them trampling over one another and causing scratch wounds, which could lead to the carcasses being rejected at slaughter.
Before entering the shed, the ducks should be ‘warned’ by knocking on the door or speaking to them. The ducks can be accustomed to your own voice.
No hasty attempts to catch individual ducks from the flock should be made. If individual birds need to be removed from the flock (e.g. for weighing), this should be done from a small group that has previously been separated from the flock using herding boards.
Before (mechanical) bedding is applied, preliminary animal checks ensure that there are no animals unable to walk in the shed. Mechanical bedding should always be carried out in the same manner at a slow driving speed (e.g. always clockwise) so as not to disrupt the animals’ routine.
The animals should be accustomed to the relevant machinery from the start of rearing.
Animal-friendly treatment of individual animals
Ducks must not be caught or lifted by their legs or a wing, in order to prevent injury, particularly to the feet.
“It is prohibited to drag or pull animals by the head, ears, horns, legs, tail or fur, or to treat them in such a way as to cause them unnecessary pain or suffering” (see Regulation (EC) No 1/2005, Annex 1, Chapter III, No 1.8(d)).
To handle individual animals or when an animal needs to be carried, the duck is lifted with both hands. To carry it, one hand is placed under the body and the other around the body to keep the wings in a closed position. Alternatively, both hands can be placed around the body, simultaneously securing both wings.
Ducks must not be carried suspended with their heads down.
Injured, sick or suffering animals, whose continued presence in the flock would cause avoidable suffering, must be immediately separated from the flock for treatment in a isolation pen (ensure unrestricted access to water and feed!) or humanely euthanised.
- Dead ducks must be removed from the shed immediately and stored in carcass containers in an appropriate manner and as cool as possible, and disposed of properly.