An integrated analysis of social stress in laying hens: The interaction between physiology, behaviour, and hierarchy

Carvalho, Renata Rezende; Palme, Rupert; Vasconcellos, Angélica da Silva

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2018.01.016

Cited by 33 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Environmental stressors can have negative impacts on the production and welfare of laying hens. Common stressors include high stocking density, changes in management practice, changes in the social environment, or changes in resource access and can result in physiological welfare impacts such as increased stress hormones and/or changes in behavioral patterns ( 19 , 22 – 24 ) although not in all cases ( 25 ). The impacts of these stressors may also manifest as changes in egg quality where varying parameters have been shown to be impacted by dietary corticosterone ( 26 ) or environmental stressors such as temperature and infection ( 27 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships Between Rearing Enrichments, Range Use, and an Environmental Stressor for Free-Range Laying Hen Welfare

et al. 2020

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Enrichments during pullet rearing may improve adaptation and welfare of hens as they move from indoor rearing to a free-range system. Individual variation in outdoor ranging may also affect welfare. This study assessed the effects of rearing enrichments and an imposed environmental stressor on hen welfare and egg quality along with the association of welfare with ranging. Hy-Line Brown ® chicks (n = 1,386) were reared indoors until 16 weeks with 3 enrichment treatments including a "control" group with standard floor litter, a "novelty" group that received novel objects that were changed weekly, and a "structural" group with H-shaped perching structures. Pullets were then moved to a free-range system with three replicates of each rearing treatment. Daily ranging was individually tracked from 25 to 64 weeks via radiofrequency identification technology. Individual hen welfare assessments were performed at 25, 33, 43, 56, and 64 weeks and correlated with ranging time prior to these dates. At 44 weeks, the range area was reduced by 80% for 11 days to induce stress. Changes in ranging behavior, albumen corticosterone concentrations and egg quality were evaluated. GLMMs showed significant interactions between hen age and rearing treatment for live weight, number of comb wounds, plumage coverage, and toenail length (all P ≤ 0.003), with the enriched hens showing more consistent live weight at the later ages, fewer comb wounds at 33 weeks, and better plumage coverage at the later ages, whereas the structural hens had shorter toenails as age increased. Plumage coverage showed a positive relationship with range use across most age points (P < 0.0001). Hens reduced ranging time following the imposed stressor but increased their number of visits with the lowest increase by the structural hens (P = 0.03). Significant interactions between rearing treatment and stressor for albumen corticosterone concentrations showed the structural hens decreased concentrations immediately post-stress, but the control and novelty groups increased (P < 0.006). The stressor increased or decreased values of most egg quality parameters across all rearing groups (all P ≤ 0.02). Overall, provision of rearing enrichments and greater range use may have positive impacts on hen welfare.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships Between Rearing Enrichments, Range Use, and an Environmental Stressor for Free-Range Laying Hen Welfare

et al. 2020

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“…Cortisol levels, for instance, are higher for dominant or subordinate individuals, depending on the circumstances [13]. Social instability, in turn, is usually associated to increased stress and its negative effects upon individuals [14,15], as that is a condition characterized by intense and prolonged fighting; therefore, knowing the factors that affect social behavior is an important tool to understand the mechanisms modulating animal welfare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Behavior and Welfare in Nile Tilapia

Gonçalves-de-Freitas

Bolognesi

Gauy

et al. 2019

Fishes

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Fish social behavior can be affected by artificial environments, particularly by factors that act upon species that show aggressive behavior to set social rank hierarchy. Although aggressive interactions are part of the natural behavior in fish, if constant and intense, such interactions can cause severe body injuries, increase energy expenditure, and lead the animals to suffer from social stress. The immediate consequence of these factors is a reduced welfare in social fish species. In this paper, we consider the factors that impact on the social behavior and welfare of Nile tilapia, an African cichlid fish widely used both in fish farms and in research; this species is frequently used as a model for physiology and behavior research. This is a polygynous species whose males interact aggressively, establishing a territorial based hierarchy, where a dominant male and several subordinate males arise. When social stability is shrunk, the negative effects of prolonged fighting emerge. In this paper, we summarized how some of the common practices in aquaculture, such as classifying individuals by matching their sizes, water renewal, stock density, and environment lighting affect Nile tilapia social aggressive interactions and, in turn, impact on its welfare. We also discuss some ways to decrease the effects of aggressive interactions in Nile tilapia, such as environment color and body tactile stimulation.

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“…Competition in an animal group is often inevitable, where the subdominant animals usually have less accessibility to resources than the dominant ones (Carvalho et al, 2018;Cordiner and Savory, 2001). In order to safeguard welfare for all animals in a group, it would be necessary to monitor individual behaviors (Manteca and Deag, 1993;Nasr et al, 2012b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An RFID-Based Automated Individual Perching Monitoring System for Group-Housed Poultry

KaiLao¹,

Liu²,

Xin³

et al. 2019

Transactions of the ASABE

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Abstract. Perching is a natural behavior of poultry. Considerable research has been done to explore the relationship between group overall perch usage and well-being of laying hens. To quantify the potential cause-effect relationship on individual hens with different health or well-being status (e.g., keel bone deformation, foot pad lesion, social ranking) in a group, it is necessary to identify the perching behavior of individual birds. However, continuously monitoring individual birds in a group poses considerable challenges. To enable such research and potential commercial application, this study developed and validated a radio frequency identification (RFID) based automated perching monitoring system (APMS) for characterizing individual perching behaviors of group-housed poultry. The APMS consisted of an RFID module, a load cell module, and a round wooden perch. The RFID module was comprised of a high-frequency RFID reader, three customized rectangular antennas placed under the perch, and RFID transponders attached to the birds. The load cell module was comprised of a data acquisition system and two load cells supporting both ends of the perch. The daily number of perch visits (PV) and perching duration (PD) for individual birds were used to delineate perching behavior. Three identical experimental pens, five hens per pen, were equipped with the monitoring system. Two RFID transponders were attached to each hen (one per leg), and a distinct color was marked on the bird’s head for video or visual identification and validation. Performance of the APMS was validated by comparing the system outputs with manual observation and labeling over an entire day. Sensitivity and specificity of the system were shown to improve from 97.77% and 99.88%, respectively when using only the RFID module to 99.83% and 99.93% when incorporating weight information from the load cell module. Using this system, we conducted a preliminary trial on the relationship of perching behavior and body weight of laying hens, which revealed little effect of body weight but considerable variability in perching behavior among the individual hens. The study demonstrated that the APMS had excellent performance in measuring perching behaviors of individual birds in a group. The APMS offers great potential for delineating individual differences in perching behavior among hens with different social status or health conditions in a group setting. Keywords: Individual perching behavior, Laying hen, Load cell, Precision livestock farming, RFID, Welfare.

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An integrated analysis of social stress in laying hens: The interaction between physiology, behaviour, and hierarchy

Cited by 33 publications

References 74 publications

Relationships Between Rearing Enrichments, Range Use, and an Environmental Stressor for Free-Range Laying Hen Welfare

Relationships Between Rearing Enrichments, Range Use, and an Environmental Stressor for Free-Range Laying Hen Welfare

Social Behavior and Welfare in Nile Tilapia

An RFID-Based Automated Individual Perching Monitoring System for Group-Housed Poultry

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