Hens in a groups usually synchronize dustbathing, such that when one hen starts to dustbathe she will often be joined by others. The sight of another hen dustbathing could thus possibly act as a stimulus increasing motivation for dustbathing, with important implications for hens in furnished cages, where the size of the dustbath normally allows …
Effect of access to wood shavings and processed paper in the litter bath of modified cages on performance, gizzard activity, …
Feather eating is related to feather pecking in laying hens. The aim of this study was to investigate the birds …
The present experiment investigated the substrate preferences of laying hens, with particular respect to dustbathing and foraging behaviour, in order to guide decisions concerning which resources should be provided in laying hen housing systems to best enable the expression of these behaviours. The consumer demand approach was used to study the strength of preference. Individually-tested …
Producers commonly feed commercial leghorns based on flock average feed intake to control egg size and nutrient intake. However, results …
California caged-layer poultry producers were surveyed regarding current pest management practises for insects, mites, weeds, pathogens, rodents, and other vertebrate …
1. Management practices, stocking rate and flock size may affect laying hen welfare but there have been few replicated studies in commercial non-cage systems that investigate this. This study used a broad range of physical and physiological indicators to assess the welfare of hens in 36 commercial flocks. 2. Six laying period treatments were examined …
Although the transition from cage housing to alternative systems commenced more than 20 yr ago, there is still an ongoing …
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 …