This study compared welfare assessment results in aviary flocks using 3 approaches: 1) A novel Aviary Transect method, 2) AssureWel, and 3) the Norwegian farm advisors’ NorWel method. The Aviary Transect time requirement, interobserver reliability, and within- and across-house sensitivity to detect welfare indicators were also evaluated. The study was conducted on 6 randomly chosen commercial white-strain layer flocks of similar age and flock size, kept in multitiered aviaries. The Aviary Transect method comprised standardized walks along each aisle while screening the whole flock for 12 welfare indicators: feather loss ( FL ) on head, back, breast, and tail, wounds on head, back, tail, and feet, dirty birds, enlarged crop, sick birds, and dead birds. AssureWel involved scoring FL on head and back, and dirtiness of 50 random birds, and flock-level evaluation of beak trimming, antagonistic behavior, flightiness, birds needing further care, and mortality. NorWel involved scoring 8 welfare indicators on 50 random birds: FL on head, back, breast, and tail, dirtiness, and wounds on head, back, and tail. The AssureWel detected flock differences in both minor and major FL on the back ( P < 0.01) as well as somewhat dirty birds ( P < 0.01). The NorWel method detected flock differences in both minor and major FL on the head ( P < 0.01), back ( P < 0.001), breast ( P < 0.001), and tail ( P < 0.001) and somewhat (score 1) dirty birds ( P < 0.05). The Aviary Transect method detected flock differences in FL on head, back, breast, and tail (all P < 0.001), dirty birds ( P < 0.05) and enlarged crop ( P < 0.001). More birds with FL on breast, and more dirty birds, were found in wall vs. central transects ( P < 0.05). There was good interobserver agreement, except for dirty birds ( P < 0.01), and positive correlations ( P < 0.05) were identified between the Aviary Transect method and the other sampling methods for FL on head and back, and dirtiness. The three methods took similar time to complete (about 20 min/flock). In conclusion, all 3 methods detected significant differences in welfare indicator prevalence between flocks. The new Aviary Transect method provides egg producers with an efficient and sensitive whole-flock assessment of hen welfare status in multitiered aviaries.

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Laying hens are typically moved to a novel environment after rearing, requiring adaptability to cope with change. We hypothesized that the standard rearing of laying hen chicks, in non-changing environments with limited choices (a single variant of each resource), impairs their ability to learn new routines, use new equipment and exploit new resources. On the contrary, rearing in a changing environment that also offers a choice of resource variants could better prepare chicks for the unexpected. To explore this hypothesis, environmental change and choice were manipulated in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment. Compared to standard rearing, greater change during early rearing, through repeatedly swapping litter and perch types, reduced initial freezing when exposed to a novel environment suggesting a lower fear response. Greater choice during rearing, through simultaneous access to multiple litter and perch types, resulted in shorter latencies to solve a detour task, more movement in novel environments and less spatial clustering, suggesting improved spatial skills and higher exploration. However, combining both change and choice did not generally result in greater improvement relative to providing one or the other alone. We conclude that environmental change and choice during rearing have different positive but non-synergistic effects on later adaptability potential.

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