Effects of Dark Brooders on Behavior and Fearfulness in Layers

Animals

Anja B. Riber¹  Diego A. Guzman²  Christine Nicol³ 

[1] Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, P.O. Box 50, Tjele DK-8830, DenmarkInstituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET-UNC) and Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1611 (5000), Córdoba X5016, Argentina;;id="af1-animals-06-00003">1Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, P.O. Box 50, Tjele DK-8830, Denma

关键词: activity;    behavior;    brooders;    fear;    laying hen;    novel object;    open-field;    poultry;    tonic immobility;    welfare;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ani6010003

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Chicks require heat to maintain body temperature during the first weeks after hatch. Heat is normally provided by use of heating lamps or whole-house heating, but an alternative is dark brooders, i.e. horizontal heating elements equipped with curtains. The effects of providing layer chicks with dark brooders during the brooding period on behavior and fearfulness were investigated. Brooders resulted in chicks showing less locomotive activity, feather pecking and fleeing. Also, a long-term reduction of fearfulness in brooder birds was found. Results support the suggestion that rearing with dark brooders can be a successful method of reducing or preventing some of the major welfare problems in layers.

Chicks require heat to maintain body temperature during the first weeks after hatch. This may be provided by dark brooders; i.e., horizontal heating elements equipped with curtains. The objective was to test effects of rearing layer chicks with dark brooders on time budget and fearfulness. Behavioral observations were performed during the first six weeks of age. Three different fear tests were conducted when the birds were age 3–6, 14–15 and 26–28 weeks. During the first four days, brooder chicks rested more than control chicks whereas they spent less time drinking, feather pecking and on locomotion (p ≤ 0.009). On days 16, 23, 30 and 42, brooder chicks spent less time on feather pecking, locomotion and fleeing (p ≤ 0.01) whereas foraging and dust bathing occurred more often on day 42 (p ≤ 0.032). Brooder birds had shorter durations of tonic immobility at all ages (p = 0.0032), moved closer to the novel object at age 15 weeks (p < 0.0001), and had shorter latencies to initiate locomotion in the open-field test at age 28 weeks (p < 0.0001). Results support the suggestion that dark brooders can be a successful method of reducing or preventing fear and feather pecking in layers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.