Abstract
Indigenous chickens are raised in various rural areas in large quantities throughout Sudan. They must be transported over various distances to centralized slaughterhouses or for other purposes. In this study, we examined indigenous chicken farmers' perceptions of chicken welfare during transportation. A total of 160 indigenous chickens (80 control + 80 transported with their owners) participated in this study. Our findings revealed that 69% and 88% of the farmers indicated that they were not knowledgeable about animal rights and animal welfare, respectively. The majority of the farmers (86%) reported that they were unaware of animal protection laws. Furthermore, the transported chickens showed a significantly long tonic immobility duration (p < 0.05) compared to the control chickens. Moreover, low pecking behavior was significant (p < 0.05) in transported chickens compared to control, particularly on day one of the experiment. In addition, the mean values of glucose, TWBCs, monocytes, basophils, eosinophils, H/L ratio, Hb, MCHC, and PLT were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in transported chickens compared to the controls. In addition, TNF-a, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IFN-γ, IL-17, as well as ROS, MDA, cortisol, glucose, and total cholesterol were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in transportation chickens compared to control, while CAT, GSH, ATP, and SOD were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in transportation chickens compared to control. We conclude that the traditional transportation of indigenous Sudanese chickens affected their welfare, and this was associated with farmers' low perceptions of chicken welfare, and stress-induced blood profile changes.