Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T08:01:23.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of four types of enrichment on feather-pecking behaviour in laying hens housed in barren environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

LM Dixon ,
IJH Duncan  and
GJ Mason
LM Dixon*
Affiliation:
Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Sustainable Livestock Systems, Avian Science Research Centre, Scottish Agricultural College, Auchincruive, Ayr KA6 5HW, UK Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
IJH Duncan
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
GJ Mason
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: Laura.Dixon@sac.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Severe feather pecking, a potentially stereotypic behaviour in chickens (Gallus gallus), can be reduced by providing enrichment. However, there is little comparative information available on the effectiveness of different types of enrichment. Providing forages to birds is likely to decrease feather-pecking behaviour the most, as it is generally thought that feather pecking stems from re-directed foraging motivation. Yet, other types of enrichment, such as dustbaths and novel objects, have also been shown to reduce feather pecking. In order to develop a practical and effective enrichment, these different possibilities must be examined. Using a Latin Square Design, 14-week old birds were given each of four treatments: i) forages; ii) novel objects; iii) dustbaths; or iv) no enrichment. The amount of feather-pecking behaviour and the number of pecks to the enrichments were recorded. Results showed feather pecking to be highest when no enrichment was present and lowest when the forages were present, with the other two enrichments intermediate. This was despite the fact that the numbers of pecks birds gave to the forages and dustbaths were not significantly different, suggesting that they were similarly used. Thus, we suggest here that forage enrichments are most effective at alleviating feather pecking at least in the short term and attempts should be made to develop poultry housing that allows for natural foraging behaviour. Following this, providing any kind of enrichment will increase bird welfare and is therefore still beneficial.

Keywords

animal welfarechickenenrichmentfeather peckingmotivationstereotypic behaviour
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , November 2010 , pp. 429 - 435
Copyright
© 2010 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aerni, V, El-Lethey, H and Wechsler, B 2000 Effect of foraging material and food form on feather pecking in laying hens. British Poultry Science 41: 22–28CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allen, J and Perry, GC 1975 Feather pecking and cannibalism in a caged layer flock. British Poultry Science 16: 441–451CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blokhuis, HJ 1989 The effect of a sudden change in floor type on pecking behaviour in chicks. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 22: 65–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blokhuis, HJ and Arkes, JG 1984 Some observations on the development of feather-pecking in poultry. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 12: 145–157CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chow, A and Hogan, JA 2005 The development of feather pecking in Burmese red junglefowl: the influence of early experience with exploratory-rich environments. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 93: 283–294CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dantzer, R 1986 Behavioural, physiological and functional aspects of stereotyped behaviour: a review and reinterpretation. Journal of Animal Science 62: 1776–1786CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, LM 2008a An investigation into the motivation behind the abnormal behaviour of feather pecking in laying hens. PhD Thesis, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaGoogle Scholar
Dixon, LM 2008b Feather pecking behaviour and associated welfare issues in laying hens. Avian Biology Research 1: 73–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, LM and Duncan, IJH 2010 A comparison of two strains of layers and their feather pecking behaviour: the importance of early experience. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 13: 1–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, LM and Mason, GJ A review of the methods used to study the motivations underlying stereotypic behaviour patterns, in prepGoogle Scholar
Dixon, LM, Duncan, IJH and Mason, GJ 2008 What's in a peck? Using ‘fixed action pattern’ morphology to investigate the motivational basis of feather pecking in laying hens. Animal Behaviour 76: 1035–1042CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eilam, D, Dayan, T, Ben-Eliyahu, S, Schulman, I, Shefer, G and Hendrie, CA 1999 Differential behavioural and hormonal responses of voles and spiny mice to owl calls. Animal Behaviour 58: 1085–1093CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
El-Lethey, H, Aerni, V, Jungi, TW and Wechsler, B 2000 Stress and feather pecking in laying hens in relation to housing conditions. British Poultry Science 41: 22–28CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
FAOSTAT 2008 FAO Production Statistics on Live Animals. http://faostat.fao.org/site/573/default.aspx#ancorGoogle Scholar
Garner, JP 2006 Perseveration and stereotypy: systems-level insights from clinical psychology. In: Mason, G and Rushen, J (eds) Stereotypic Animal Behaviour, Second Edition pp 121–152. CAB International: Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
Gentle, MJ and Hunter, LN 1990 Physiological and behavioural responses associated with feather removal in Gallus gallus var domesticus. Research in Veterinary Science 50: 95–101CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentle, MJ, Waddington, D, Hunter, LN and Jones, RB 1990 Behavioural evidence for persistent pain following partial beak amputations in chickens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 27: 149–157CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harlander-Matauschek, A, Benda, I, Lavetti, C, Djukic, M and Bessei, W 2007 The relative preferences for wood shavings or feathers in high and low feather pecking birds. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 107: 78–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmeyer, I 1969 Feather pecking in pheasants: an ethological approach to the problem. Danish Review of Game Biology 6: 1–36Google Scholar
Huber-Eicher, B and Wechsler, B 1997 Feather pecking in domestic chicks: its relation to dustbathing and foraging. Animal Behaviour 54: 757–768CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huber-Eicher, B and Wechsler, B 1998 The effect of quality and availability of foraging materials on feather pecking in laying hen chicks. Animal Behaviour 55: 861–873CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, HM and Moore, BR 1973 The form of the auto-shaped response with food or water reinforcers. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 20: 163–181CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jensen, AB, Palme, R and Forkman, B 2006 Effect of brooders on feather pecking and cannibalism in domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 99: 287–300CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnsen, PF, Vestergaard, KS and Norgaard-Nielsen, G 1998 Influence of early rearing conditions on the development of feather pecking and cannibalism in domestic fowl. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 60: 25–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroodsma, DE, Byers, BE, Goodale, E, Johnson, S and Liu, WC 2001 Pseudoreplication in playback experiments, revisited a decade later. Animal Behaviour 61: 1029–1033CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, G 2006 Stereotypic behaviour in captive animals: fundamentals and implications for welfare and beyond. In: Mason, G and Rushen, J (eds) Stereotypic Animal Behaviour Second Edition pp 121–152. CAB International: Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
Mason, G, Clubb, R, Latham, N and Vickery, S 2007 Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 102: 163–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdie, TM and Keeling, LJ 2002 The social transmission of feather pecking in laying hens: effects of environment and age. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 75: 147–159CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdie, TM, Keeling, LJ, Blokhuis, HJ and Jones, RB 2005 Reduction in feather pecking and improvement of feather condition with the presentation of a string device to chickens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 93: 67–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, DS and McCabe, GP 1999 Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, Third Edition. WH Freeman and Company: New York, USAGoogle Scholar
Nicol, CJ, Lindberg, AC, Phillips, AJ, Pope, SJ, Wilkins, LJ and Green, LE 2001 Influence of prior exposure to wood shavings on feather pecking, dustbathing and foraging in adult laying hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 73: 141–155CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norgaard-Nielsen, G 1997 Dustbathing and feather pecking in domestic chickens reared with and without access to sand. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 52: 99–108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norgaard-Nielsen, G, Vestergaard, KS and Simonsen, HB 1993 Effects of early experience and stimulus enrichment on feather damage in laying hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 38: 345–352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petherick, JC and Duncan, IJH 1989 Behaviour of young domestic fowl directed towards different substrates. British Poultry Science 30: 229–238CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riedstra, B and Groothuis, TGG 2002 Early feather pecking as a form of social exploration: the effect of group stability on feather pecking and tonic immobility in domestic chicks. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 77: 127–138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandson, J and Albert, ML 1984 Varieties of perseveration. Neuropsychologia 6: 715–732CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS 2003 SAS Version 9.1. SAS Institute Inc: Cary, NC, USAGoogle Scholar
Shyne, A 2006 Meta-analytic review of the effects of enrichment on stereotypic behavior in zoo mammals. Zoo Biology 25: 317–337CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swaisgood, R and Shepherdson, D 2006 Environmental enrichment for mitigating stereotypies in zoo animals: a literature review and meta-analysis. In: Mason, G and Rushen, J (eds) Stereotypic Animal Behaviour, Second Edition pp 256–285. CAB International: Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
Vestergaard, KS 1994 Dustbathing and its relation to feather pecking in the fowl: motivational and developmental aspects. PhD Thesis, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, DenmarkGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, B and Huber-Eicher, B 1998 The effect of foraging material and perch height on feather pecking and feather damage in laying hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 58: 131–141CrossRefGoogle Scholar