Effect of social order, perch, and dust-bath allocation on behavior in laying hens
Open Access
- 1 February 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Asian Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies in Animal Bioscience
- Vol. 35 (2), 299-307
- https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.21.0198
Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of different social ranking order (SRO) and the enrichments (perch and dust-bath) allocation (EA) on behavior of laying hens in furnished cages.Methods: Total experimental period was 4 weeks. There were 216 Hy-line brown layers beak-trimmed at 1 d of age and selected randomly at 14 weeks of age from a commercial farm, and randomly divided into 36 cages with 6 hens in each cage. High enrichments (perch and dust-bath) allocation (HEA) and low enrichments (perch and dust-bath) allocation (LEA) were provided. Video observations of behavior were obtained from the focal hens between 14 and 18 weeks of age and perching, dust-bathing and other general behaviors of the hens with different social orders were measured.Results: Perching behavior of high SRO hens (HSR) were significantly higher than that of medium SRO hens (MSR), and that of the MSR were significantly higher than that of low SRO hens (LSR) (p0.05). The hens in the high EA cage (HEAC) showed more lying behavior on perch than those in the low EA cage (LEAC) (p<0.01). The different SRO and EA did not affect dust-bathing behavior except vertical wing-shaking behavior (p0.05), except standing and preening behaviors (p<0.01 and p<0.05), of which the hens in the HEAC showed less standing (p<0.01) and more preening behavior than the hens in the LEAC.Conclusion: The SRO of laying hens has a significant effect on the perching behaviors, but SRO and EA have little effect on dust-bathing and general behaviors.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (31672466)
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- Relation between social order and use of resources in small and large furnished cages for laying hensBritish Poultry Science, 2008
- Perching behaviour and perch height preference of laying hens in furnished cages varying in heightBritish Poultry Science, 2008
- Differences of behavior, use of resources and physical conditions between dominant and subordinate hens in furnished cagesAnimal Science Journal, 2007
- Behavioral changes in laying hens after introduction to battery cages, furnished cages and an aviaryAnimal Science Journal, 2006
- Coping styles in animals: current status in behavior and stress-physiologyNeuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 1999
- Some observations on the role of behavior in poultry production and future research needsApplied Animal Ethology, 1984
- How peck orders of chickens are measured: A critical reviewApplied Animal Ethology, 1984
- Conventional and Shallow Cages: A Summary of Research from Welfare and Production AspectsWorld's Poultry Science Journal, 1983
- Social rank and priority of access to resources in domestic fowlBehavioural Processes, 1979
- The behaviour of the domestic chicken: A review of the literatureThe British Journal of Animal Behaviour, 1955