Plumage condition, use of outdoor run, mortality and productivity were recorded in 18 Danish commercial organic egg-producing flocks consisting of 1,200-5,000 hens each. Between 7 and 38% of the hens in a flock used the outdoor run, with a mean of 18%. In most flocks the majority of the hens outside stayed close to the …
1. A leg band containing a transponder was fitted to 80 birds in a perchery containing 1000 birds. 2. The transponder emitted a unique identification number when a bird walked on one of 8 flat antennae on the floor. The recording apparatus was used to measure the amount of time that each of the tagged …
Many studies have shown how laying aviaries can improve hens’ welfare, but little work has been done on the adaptation …
Abstract 1. ISA Brown laying hens (3000) were housed in a perchery in 10 pens, each with 300 birds. The …
1. Flocks of medium hybrid laying hens were housed in a modified deep litter system; the house was divided into 2, 3 and 4 pens in three successive years. Flock size was 300 or 370 and stocking density varied from 3.4 to 10.7 birds/m2. Higher densities used were above those recommended by the Ministry of …
Laying Hens were kept in an aviary system on a practical scale under Swedish conditions during five entire production cycles. …
In the near future EU-legislation will ban the use of conventional battery cages, while national legislation in some countries in Western Europe will ban beak trimming as well. The ban on battery cages and beak trimming causes an increased risk of feather pecking and cannibalism in laying hens. Many factors influence feather pecking behaviour, but this paper …
Adult laying hens from Rhode Island Red (RIR) origin both express lower levels of feather pecking and lower fear responses towards a novel object than laying hens from White Leghorn (WL) origin. The present study investigated whether mixed housing of RIR and WL laying hens would affect their behaviour in both an open field (at …
Variance components and selection response for feather pecking behavior were studied by analyzing the data from a divergent selection experiment. An investigation indicated that a Box-Cox transformation with power λ = −0.2 made the data approximately normally distributed and gave the best fit for the model. Variance components and selection response were estimated using Bayesian …
1. The objective of the present study was to examine the behaviour of laying hens in single-tiered aviaries with and …
This well attended Workshop stimulated lively discussion that continued throughout the Conference. It addressed a behavioural problem in laying fowl that causes concern from both welfare and economic standpoints, particularly in the context of the current trend towards alternative colony housing systems where its consequences tend to be more serious. The Workshop was structured around …
The aim of this review is to discuss the effects of selection method and early-life history on the behavioural development of laying hens. Especially in larger groups, laying hens often develop damaging behaviours, such as feather pecking and cannibalism, leading to impaired animal welfare. We hypothesise that the propensity to develop feather pecking and cannibalism …
Feather pecking is a major problem in laying hens. Frustration, i.e. the omission of expected reward, may play a role in the development of feather pecking. In two experiments, we studied if feather pecking could be facilitated by short-term frustration in birds with a high feather pecking phenotype and victims of feather pecking (experiment 1), …
The objective of the current study was to estimate heritabilities (h2) of feather pecking and openfield response of laying hens at two different ages. An F2 cross, originating from a high and a low feather pecking line of laying hens, was used for the experiment. Each of the 630 birds of the F2 cross was …
1. The effect of the presence of loose feathers (on the floor) on the behaviour and plumage condition of laying hens (Lohmann Silver, LS) was studied during the rearing and laying periods. 2. From one day old, 60 birds in each of 4 straw-bedded pens (n=240 in total) with 6.5 birds/m² were either kept under …
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate assocations between vent pecking (VP) and management in laying hens in alternative systems and to compare the results with those from the feather pecking (FP) analysis using data collection in the same study [Vet. Rec. 147 (2000) 233]. The data were derived from a postal questionnaire …
Six flocks of laying hens were housed in percheries at each of four stocking densities (6, 14, 22 or 30 birds m -²) from 14 to 30 weeks of age. Stocking density was manipulated by changes in flock size (72, 168, 264 or 368 birds) within percheries of the same floor and height dimensions. The …