Features of leukocytic reaction to transportation in chicken with various stress sensitivity

The number of basophiles, eosinophiles, lymphocytes, monocytes and heterophiles in blood was compared before and after transportation of 37 day-old chicks of the Hubbard ISA F15 meat cross. For preliminary determination of individual stress sensitivity in tested poultry, we have proposed the technique, consisting in a modeling of local adaptive syndrome by means of intradermal injection of 70 % turpentine solution into a jowl. As it was confirmed experimentally, the transportation was a powerful irritant, causing the development of stress in chicks, that was manifested as a change in leukogram, in particular, the considerable decrease in lymphocytes number and the increase in heterophiles number. The individual sensitivity to stress depends directly on a chick’s reactivity. The reactivity was higher in stress resistant individuals, than in stress sensitive ones.