Assessing animal welfare: a triangulation of preference, judgement bias and other candidate welfare indicators

Paul, Elizabeth S.; Browne, William J.; Mendl, Michael; Caplen, Gina; Trevarthen, Anna; Held, Suzanne D E; Nicol, CJ

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.02.003

Cited by 15 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 114 publications

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“…Considerations of social experiences should be incorporated into future studies. Paul et al (2022) also found that the amount of time exposed to a living environment was important, finding judgment biases were most affected by short-term changes in exposure to different living conditions. This serves as a good reminder that affective states are influenced by experience.…”

Section: A Bird's Eye View: the Importance Of The Laying Hen's Experi...mentioning

confidence: 93%

“… Ross et al (2019) examined startle responses (behavior) and judgment bias (cognition) in relation to enrichments and personality traits, finding the startle response was a more sensitive measure to housing effects than the judgment bias. Paul et al (2022) housed hens in either generally preferred enclosures (enriched) or generally non-preferred enclosures. They used measures of physiology, behavior, and judgment bias and found that relationships between these measures were influenced by individual preferences, which varied in their study.…”

Section: A Bird's Eye View: the Importance Of The Laying Hen's Experi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Enhancing their quality of life: environmental enrichment for poultry

Jacobs

Blatchford²,

Jong³

et al. 2023

Poultry Science

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Section: A Bird's Eye View: the Importance Of The Laying Hen's Experi...mentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: A Bird's Eye View: the Importance Of The Laying Hen's Experi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing their quality of life: environmental enrichment for poultry

Jacobs

Blatchford²,

Jong³

et al. 2023

Poultry Science

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“…Hence the experts judged that the minimum area for the enclosure of groups of less than 30 birds should be at least 25 m 2 . In recent paper (Paul et al, 2022), a relatively large space allowance (0.72 m 2 /bird) combined with other resources resulted in good welfare. If we translate this into a small group of up to 30 birds, this will give an area of 30 birds × 0.72 m 2 = 21.6 m 2 , which is similar to the recommended minimum area of 25m 2 .…”

Section: Horizontal Space Needed For Behavioural Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare of laying hens on farm

Nielsen¹,

Álvarez²,

Bicout³

et al. 2023

EFS2

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This scientific opinion focuses on the welfare of laying hens, pullets and layer breeders on farm. The most relevant husbandry systems used in Europe are described. For each system, highly relevant welfare consequences were identified, as well as related animal‐based measures (ABMs), and hazards leading to the welfare consequences. Moreover, measures to prevent or correct the hazards and/or mitigate the welfare consequences are recommended. The highly relevant welfare consequences based on severity, duration and frequency of occurrence are bone lesions, group stress, inability to avoid unwanted sexual behaviour, inability to perform comfort behaviour, inability to perform exploratory or foraging behaviour, isolation stress, predation stress, resting problems, restriction of movement, skin disorders and soft tissue lesions and integument damage. The welfare consequences of non‐cage compared to cage systems for laying hens are described and minimum enclosure characteristics are described for laying hens, pullets and layer breeders. Beak trimming, which causes negative welfare consequences and is conducted to reduce the prevalence and severity of pecking, is described as well as the risks associated with rearing of non‐beak‐trimmed flocks. Alternatives to reduce sharpness of the beak without trimming are suggested. Finally, total mortality, plumage damage, wounds, keel bone fractures and carcass condemnations are the most promising ABMs for collection at slaughterhouses to monitor the level of laying hen welfare on farm. Main recommendations include housing all birds in non‐cage systems with easily accessible, elevated platforms and provision of dry and friable litter and access to a covered veranda. It is further recommended to implement protocols to define welfare trait information to encourage progress in genetic selection, implement measures to prevent injurious pecking, rear pullets with dark brooders and reduce male aggression in layer breeders.

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“…However, considering the effect of a refinement on multiple outcome measures, and assessing whether results across these outcome measures align (c.f. 114 ), might provide a more complete and comprehensive insight into the impact of the refinement on the welfare of the animals. We found a number of potential refinements that had been studied using a wide range of outcome measures, such as cage contents, cage type, cagemate number, and foraging opportunities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mapping review of refinements to laboratory rat housing and husbandry

et al. 2023

Self Cite

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Refining the housing and husbandry of laboratory rats is an important goal, both for ethical reasons and to allow better quality research. We conducted a mapping review of 1,017 studies investigating potential refinements of housing and husbandry of the laboratory rat to assess what refinements have, and haven't, been studied, and to briefly assess whether there is evidence to support any impact on rat welfare. Among the many refinements studied, the majority involve changes to the cage, but some also involve alterations to the wider environment. The effects of these refinements were assessed using a range of readouts, many of which are difficult to interpret from a welfare perspective. Preference studies, which are easier to interpret, provide evidence that rats prefer complex environments, including shelters and multiple objects, which offer different areas/resources allowing the rat to engage in diverse behaviours. The reporting of methodology in papers was often poor, indicating that studies were potentially subject to biases. Given that many refinements co-occurred, it was often difficult to tease apart which ones were most beneficial for rat welfare. Effects of refinements were also moderated by a number of factors including age, sex, strain, and photoperiod. Altogether our findings show that a one-size-fits-all approach to refinements is not appropriate, because different refinements will impact different rats in different ways. Our review has also produced a database of >1,000 articles that can be used for further and more detailed analyses. Our findings have also highlighted areas where future research is likely to be valuable, including refinements to rat transport, handling, and the use of training.

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Assessing animal welfare: a triangulation of preference, judgement bias and other candidate welfare indicators

Cited by 15 publications

References 114 publications

Enhancing their quality of life: environmental enrichment for poultry

Enhancing their quality of life: environmental enrichment for poultry

Welfare of laying hens on farm

A mapping review of refinements to laboratory rat housing and husbandry

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