A comparison of the behaviour and production of laying hens in experimental and conventional battery cages

Bareham, Julia

doi:10.1016/0304-3762(76)90064-x

Cited by 50 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…It was striking, however, that while claw damage was less in treatments A and P than in control cages, there was a trend for it to be least in treatment L, with larger dust baths. The reduction in foot damage in experimental cages, although not significant, was consistent with previous findings (Bareham, 1976;Smith et aL, 1993).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In general, hens prefer nest boxes with loose nesting material to those without (Kite et al, 1980) and use them more consistently (Michie and Wilson, 1985). It is sometimes suggested that buckwheat husks, the litter used in treatment L, are unattractive to hens because they are too loose to provide support under the body, but in a direct comparison hens' choices between buckwheat husks and wood shavings were equivocal (Appleby et al, 1988), while Bareham (1976) found that hens in experimental cages laid virtually all their eggs in nests lined with buckwheat husks. The most likely cause of unsettled nesting in treatment L was the similarity between the nest boxes and dust baths.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Development of 'welfare-friendly' cages has, however, been limited (Bareham, 1976;Elson, 1976). In a previous paper, we demonstrated that it is possible to provide facilities in cages for behaviour such as nesting and dust bathing and to achieve consistent use of those facilities: to achieve close matching between behaviour and environment .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Nesting, dust bathing and perching by laying hens in cages: Effects of design on behaviour and welfare

Appleby

Smith

Hughes

1993

British Poultry Science

101

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1. Laying hens (192 ISA Brown medium hybrids) were housed from 18 to 72 weeks as groups of 4 in conventional or experimental cages. The main area of all cages provided 675 cm2/hen. All experimental cages had perches, dust baths and nest boxes, which were of three types: litter (L), artificial turf (A) or plastic rollaway (P). These facilities provided an additional 375 to 480 cm2/hen. The nest boxes and dust baths occupied either high or low positions. Behaviour, physical condition and production of the birds were regularly recorded. 2. Mortality was low (1.6% overall) and egg production very good in all treatments. The proportion of cracked and dirty eggs was slightly (but not significantly) higher in the experimental cages. In the experimental cages 90% of eggs were laid overall in the nest boxes and 3% in the dust baths. The proportion laid in the nest boxes was lower early in the laying cycle and increased with time, reaching 99% in A. 3. The facilities were heavily used. Birds spent about 25% of day time on the perches and 10-15% in or near the nest box and dust bath. At night, the majority of birds (90 to 94%) roosted on perches, but most of the remainder were on the lips of the nest box or dust bath, fouling the interiors. 4. Pre-laying behaviour was much more settled in the experimental cages (45 min spent in the eventual laying position) than in the conventional ones (20 min) and total duration varied from 68 min in A to 87 min in P. The number of nest entries varied from 3.0 (A and P) to 4.3 (L); disturbance to sitting birds was correspondingly greater in L. 5. Dust bathing in the experimental cages generally took place during the afternoon in a single bout of about 5 min duration, whereas in the conventional cages it was brief and fragmented (3 bouts of 10 s each). The dust bath was also used for foraging behaviour (pecking and scratching). The treatments with small dust baths (A and P) caused problems for the birds. 6. Feather, foot and claw damage all tended to be less in the experimental than in the conventional cages, though only in the last case was the difference significant. Keel bone depressions appeared to be associated with perches; they were present in 43% of hens in the experimental cages but only 4% in conventional cages.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Nesting, dust bathing and perching by laying hens in cages: Effects of design on behaviour and welfare

Appleby

Smith

Hughes

1993

British Poultry Science

101

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“…However, no significant heritabilities were found for bobbing (Webster and Hurnik, in press, c). Prelaying behavior is influenced by breed (Wood-Gush 1972;Mills and Wood'-Gush 1985) and housing rype (Bareham 1976), and floor type can modify pacing behavior (Wood-Gush 1975). Genetic stock and case type did not influence bobbins (Webster aid Hurnik, in press, b).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ethogram of White Leghorn-Type Hens in Battery Cages

Webster¹,

Hurnik²

1990

Can. J. Anim. Sci.

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“…Segundo Barbosa Filho et al (2007) o comportamento de explorar penas pode ser considerado comportamento de desconforto, porém Barehan (1976) comenta que a sujeira no empenamento das aves também pode levá-las à maior necessidade de explorar as penas.…”

Section: Resultsunclassified

Comportamento bioclimático de frangos de corte caipira em piquetes enriquecidos

Santos

Pandorfi

Almeida

et al. 2010

Rev. bras. eng. agríc. ambient.

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RESUMOConduziu-se esta pesquisa com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito do enriquecimento ambiental em sistema de produção para frangos de corte caipira, determinando a influência dos elementos meteorológicos e seu reflexo nos aspectos comportamentais das aves. O experimento foi realizado em 87 dias, na Estação Experimental de Pequenos Animais da Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, desenvolvido em quatro módulos de produção e cada módulo dividido em quatro boxes com 10 aves por box, totalizando 160 aves, submetidas aos módulos de produção com acesso a piquete, acesso a piquete com poleiro, acesso a piquete com sombreamento artificial e acesso a piquete com poleiro e sombreamento artificial. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado em parcelas subdivididas e médias comparadas pelo teste Tukey. O módulo de produção com acesso a piquete com poleiro e sombreamento artificial foi aquele que permitiu melhor condicionamento térmico às aves, apresentando valor médio para entalpia de 75,95 kJ kg -1 , além de promover melhor oportunidade de expressar seus comportamentos naturais e de explorar o ambiente externo ao módulo de produção, potencializando o bem-estar animal.Palavras-chave: avicultura, comportamento animal, conforto térmico Bioclimatic behavior of free-range rustic broilers in enriched paddocks ABSTRACTThis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of an enriched environment on the production system of free range rustic broilers, determining the influence of meteorological elements and behavioral responses of the broilers. The experiment was performed during a production cycle of 87 days at the Experimental Station of Small Animals of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, conducted in four production modules divided into four boxes with 10 birds per box, totaling 160 birds, subjected to four modules of production: access to paddock, access to paddock with perch, access to paddock with artificial shade, and access to paddock with perch and artificial shade. The experimental design was completely randomized (CRD), in split plots, with the means compared through the Tukey test. The production module with access to the paddock with perch and artificial shade offered the birds the best thermal comfort, having a mean enthalpy value of 75.95 kJ kg -1 , and were those that had better opportunity to express their natural behavior and to explore the environment outside the production module, thus increasing their well-being.

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A comparison of the behaviour and production of laying hens in experimental and conventional battery cages

Cited by 50 publications

References 13 publications

Nesting, dust bathing and perching by laying hens in cages: Effects of design on behaviour and welfare

Nesting, dust bathing and perching by laying hens in cages: Effects of design on behaviour and welfare

An Ethogram of White Leghorn-Type Hens in Battery Cages

Comportamento bioclimático de frangos de corte caipira em piquetes enriquecidos

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