The effect of level of straw bale provision on the behaviour and leg health of commercial broiler chickens

Bailie, Carley; O’Connell, Niamh

doi:10.1017/s1751731114001529

Cited by 24 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Kells et al (2001) found that a high provision of straw bales increased activity in unenriched areas of a commercial broiler house. More recent research that used a density of bales that more closely resembled commercial practices did not find a similar increase in active behaviour (Bailie and O'Connell, 2014). It may that enrichment density had a similar impact on this trial, and that a higher number of dust baths and perches would result in a more widespread effect on house behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Play behaviour, fear responses and activity levels in commercial broiler chickens provided with preferred environmental enrichments

Baxter

Bailie

O’Connell

2019

Animal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is currently a lack of research investigating the effectiveness of commercial broiler enrichments, and in particular the ability of these additions to create opportunities for positive welfare. One aim of this study was to investigate whether offering broiler chickens enrichments that have recently been found to be preferred leads to increased levels of activity. A second aim was to investigate the emotional effects of provision of these enrichments by assessing levels of fearfulness and play-like activity. Commercially housed broilers were assigned to treatment houses containing either: (1) platform perches, (2) platform perches+peat dust baths, (3) no enrichment (control). Activity levels and play behaviours in unenriched areas of the house were measured in weeks 3, 4 and 5. Levels of active behaviours, such as foraging and locomotion, were determined from video recordings of undisturbed birds in unenriched areas of the house. To stimulate play-like behaviours an observer walked through the birds, displacing them and creating a space. The broilers using the space were then filmed for 5 min and the occurrences of frolicking, sparring and food-running were recorded. Fearfulness of broilers in unenriched areas of the house, and also when using enrichments, was measured using observer avoidance tests in week 5. We found that creating space among the broilers was a successful method of stimulating play (largely sparring and frolicking), with play being observed in 93% of videos, however the presence of enrichments did not have an effect on the level of play recorded (P>0.05). There was also no treatment effect on activity levels of broilers in unenriched areas (P>0.05), however levels of overall activity decreased as broilers aged. Compared with the control, flight distances in unenriched areas were significantly lower in the perches+dust bath treatment (P=0.026), and were numerically lower in the perches treatment. This suggests a reduction in fearfulness with increased environmental complexity, and thus possible welfare benefits. It is suggested that further research should investigate whether increasing the level of provision of these enrichments leads to more marked improvements in welfare.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Play behaviour, fear responses and activity levels in commercial broiler chickens provided with preferred environmental enrichments

Baxter

Bailie

O’Connell

2019

Animal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is therefore difficult to establish whether overall levels of activity by broiler chickens were affected by treatment in the current study. Previous trials have provided broilers with varying numbers of straw bales and reported either an increase in overall activity (Kells et al, 2001) or no effect on any behaviours (Bailie et al, 2013;Bailie and O'Connell, 2014). It is likely that the discrepancy in bale density can account for the difference in results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…There has been little research on different levels of bale provision, however Bailie and O'Connell (2014) found no improvement in bird welfare when broilers were housed with 1 bale per 29 m 2 (2 bales per 1 000 birds at all times) compared to a lower 1 bale per 44 m 2 (1.3 bales per 1 000 birds at all times). Currently protocols for enriched housing in the UK (usually 1.5-2 bales per 1 000 birds) were largely developed within the limitations of what could practically be implemented on farms at the time, however further research on the optimal level of bale provision would be useful.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kells et al (2001) showed that providing broilers with straw bales increased their overall activity levels, however their trial used a higher number of bales than are supplied commercially. More recent research that involved lower straw bale densities, chosen to more closely reflect current industry practice, did not yield similar findings (Bailie et al, 2013;Bailie and O'Connell, 2014). Similarly, although smaller scale research has been conducted on the preference of broilers for different dustbathing substrates (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluation of a dustbathing substrate and straw bales as environmental enrichments in commercial broiler housing

Baxter

Bailie

O’Connell

2018

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of straw bales as an environmental enrichment is common for broiler chickens in enriched housing systems, however relatively little information exists about their effectiveness in improving welfare. There has also been no widespread introduction of a dustbathing material for broilers. The main aim of this trial was to evaluate the use of a dustbathing substrate (in the form of oat hulls), both as an alternative to straw bales and as a supplementary enrichment. Over four replicates, four commercial houses, each containing approximately 22,000 broilers, were assigned to one of four treatments over the 6-week production cycle: (1) straw bales (B; one per 155 m 2 ), (2) oat hulls as a dustbathing substrate (OH; provided in 1 m diameter steel rings, one per 155 m 2 ), (3) both oat hulls and straw bales (OH+B), and (4) a control treatment with no environmental enrichment (C).Observations of broiler behaviour and leg health were taken weekly, and performance data was collected for each cycle. Broilers housed in the OH and OH+B treatments had better gait scores in week 6 than those housed in the C treatment (P < 0.05), which suggests that the provision of oat hulls improved bird leg health. However, there was no associated increase in activity levels in unenriched areas of the houses. Conversely, more locomotion (P < 0.001), less sitting inactive (P < 0.001) and less sitting pecking (P < 0.001) were observed in the C treatment than in unenriched areas of B, OH and OH+B treatments. More birds were recorded around the bales compared to the oat hulls (P < 0.001), however birds performed significantly more foraging (P = 0.019) and dustbathing (P = 0.045) in oat hulls than around straw bales. Although oat hulls appear to be more suitable for stimulating active behaviours than straw bales, the high level of resting recorded around the bales suggests they may have a positive function as protective cover. The presence of an additional type of enrichment in the house did not affect the number of birds, or the type of behaviours performed in close proximity to either straw bales or oat hulls (P > 0.05). Treatment did not have a significant effect on pododermatitis levels or slaughter weight, on mortality rates, or on litter quality or atmospheric ammonia levels (P > 0.05). Overall, our results suggest that the oat hulls substrate was a successful enrichment in terms of promoting dustbathing and foraging, and improving bird leg health. The straw bales also appeared attractive to the birds, however, which suggests that a dustbathing substrate should be a supplementary enrichment.

show abstract

“…Effective environmental enrichment stimulates natural behaviour, can reduce negative feelings such as anxiety, and contributes to experiencing positive emotions (Riber, et al, 2018) and thus potentially contributes to broiler chickens' welfare. Although much research is currently being done on effective environmental enrichment for broiler chickens, the majority of previous and current research focused on regular, fast-growing breeds (Bailie, et al, 2013;Bailie, et al, 2018a;Bailie, et al, 2018b;Bailie and O'Connell, 2014;Baxter, et al, 2018b;De Jong and Gunnink, 2019;Riber, et al, 2018). A one-to-one translation of effects of environmental enrichment on behaviour and other welfare indicators of fast-growing broiler chickens into slow-growing breeds is not possible, because the behavioural needs of slow-growing breeds may differ, and they are usually much more active and have a different time budget than fast-growing broiler chickens (Bokkers and Koene, 2003;Rothschild, et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Literature update on effective environmental enrichment and light provision in broiler chickens

Silva

Jong

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The results of a literature study to the effect of different types of environmental enrichment and light conditions on broiler chickens welfare are described, in order to attempt to provide an environment to slow-growing broiler chickens that better meets their behavioural requirements. With respect to environmental enrichment, a review paper has been used as a starting point and more recent information has been collected and summarised. With respect to lighting, in consultation with stakeholders we chose to limit the literature study to a few potential interesting areas of research (e.g. natural light provision and its variation across the broiler house). There are several research questions in relation to enrichment provision, e.g., optimal perch design, multiple use of enrichments and the actual number of enrichments that should be provided. Currently, little is known about the need for light in slow-growing broiler chickens and how this interacts with the environmental enrichment offered. Future research priorities include the optimization of methods of natural light provision (which is often applied in higher welfare indoor systems with slow-growing breeds), testing effects of ultraviolet wavelengths on chicken behaviour, and light colour preferences in slow-growing breeds.

show abstract

The effect of level of straw bale provision on the behaviour and leg health of commercial broiler chickens

Cited by 24 publications

References 15 publications

Play behaviour, fear responses and activity levels in commercial broiler chickens provided with preferred environmental enrichments

Play behaviour, fear responses and activity levels in commercial broiler chickens provided with preferred environmental enrichments

Evaluation of a dustbathing substrate and straw bales as environmental enrichments in commercial broiler housing

Literature update on effective environmental enrichment and light provision in broiler chickens

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About