Environmental enrichment in commercial flocks of aviary housed laying hens: relationship with plumage condition and fearfulness

Tahamtani, Fernanda M.; Kittelsen, Käthe Elise; Vasdal, Guro

doi:10.1016/j.psj.2022.101754

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This result could have occurred if farmers in our study responded to the emergence of cannibalism by adding more enrichments. Consistent with our finding of no association between the number of types of enrichment and feather loss or mortality, Tahamtani et al (2022), found no association between the quantity of each enrichment type and feather loss or mortality in Norwegian layer flocks. This may have been due to limited variation in provision of enrichments.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

The Aviary Transect—a practical welfare assessment tool to improve the management of cage-free laying hens

Vasdal¹,

Newberry²,

Estévez³

et al. 2023

Poultry Science

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

The Aviary Transect—a practical welfare assessment tool to improve the management of cage-free laying hens

Vasdal¹,

Newberry²,

Estévez³

et al. 2023

Poultry Science

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“…We speculate that this may be related to the commercial production mode, in which layer chickens that hatch at the same time are usually fed together and are afraid of the cold, easily frightened and have a clustering habit (Appleby et al, 2004). In addition, compared with free layer chickens, caged layer chickens feed daily due to their appetite, so the nutritional needs of layer chickens can be satisfied sooner, while the feeding density is large and the activity space is restricted, thus causing layer chicken psychological tension and anxiety, which can easily induce feather pecking and anal pecking (Tahamtani et al, 2022). Therefore, feather and uropygial gland microbes, including E. coli, K. pneumoniae and C. butyricum, are more likely to be transmitted to the gut for colonization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in layer chicken ceca is associated with farm enviroment

Xiao

Chen

et al. 2023

Front. Microbiol.

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Industrialized layer chicken feedlots harbor complex environmental microbial communities that affect the enrichment and exchange of gut bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, the contribution of different environmental sources to the gut ARGs of layer chickens is not clear. Here, layer chicken gut and environmental samples (air, water, feed, cage, feather, maternal hen feces, uropygial glands) were collected during the early 3 month period before the laying of eggs, and the source and characteristics of the gut microorganisms and ARGs were analyzed by performing 16S rRNA and metagenomic sequencing. The results showed that the abundances of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria in cecum of layer chickens gradually increased, while that of Proteobacteria decreased with age, and the number and relative abundance of ARGs decreased significantly with age. On day 5, 57% of the layer chicken cecal ARGs were from feather samples, and 30% were from cage samples. Subsequently, the contribution of cage ARGs became progressively more prominent over time. At days 30 and 57, the contribution of cage ARGs to the chick cecal ARGs reached 63.3 and 69.5%, respectively. The bacterial community composition (especially the abundances of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli) was the major factor impacting the ARG profile. K. pneumoniae and E. coli were mainly transmitted from feathers to the layer chicken cecum, and the contribution rates were 32 and 3.4%, respectively. In addition, we observed the transmission of ARG-carrying bacteria (Bacteroides fragilis) from the cage to the gut, with a contribution rate of 11.5%. It is noteworthy that B. fragilis is an opportunistic pathogen that may cause diarrhea in laying hens. These results can provide reference data for the healthy breeding of layer chickens and the prevention and control of ARG pollution.

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“…Furthermore, inaccurate results could arise due to the relatively small sample size, which makes it hard to compare the different groups. Nevertheless, such sample sizes are common in on-farm studies and are widely seen as a good indicator for the occurrence of FP and cannibalism [ 24 , 34 , 36 ]. Even if the captured hens were randomly selected from all henhouse areas, it is still questionable whether they formed a representative sample of the actual population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of an Automatic Enrichment Device on Laying Hen Behavior and Plumage Condition

Riedel

Canci

Spindler

et al. 2023

Animals

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Feather pecking and cannibalism are prominent problems in modern laying hen husbandry. Among the various approaches to address this issue, environmental enrichment plays a crucial role. In this on-farm study, four winter gardens of an organic farm henhouse were equipped with an automatic enrichment device. Different quantities of downpipes dosing grain on rough-coated pecking plates (PPs) were tested. One group served as a control (CG) without an automatic enrichment device, while the others were offered different numbers of PPs, with one equipped with a doubled amount of PPs (DEG) compared to the other two groups (SEG). Video analyses of the hens’ duration of stay and behaviors in the recorded winter garden area and around the PPs were performed, and regular assessments of the plumage condition were conducted. By the end of the production cycle, no hens with intact plumage were found, with hens in the CG and DEG showing worse scores and earlier deterioration in the plumage condition than in the SEG. The offer of PPs showed a significant influence on the duration of stay in the filmed area. Hens in the DEG stayed significantly longer (mean: 129 s, SD: 126 s) than those in the CG (mean: 79 s, SD: 91 s; p < 0.05) and SEG (mean: 75 s, SD: 83 s; p < 0.005). On the performed behavioral bouts per hen and minute (CG mean bouts/minute (SD): 5.47 (2.92); SEG mean (SD): 5.33 (2.76); SEG mean (SD): 5.81 (3.24)), no significant influences were detected. Environmental pecking was the behavior most frequently observed in all winter gardens, where, particularly around the PPs, pecking at the device was observed. Therefore, the enrichment device can be assessed as well accepted by the hens in winter gardens. The effect of the device on the plumage condition remains unclear, with external factors probably showing a greater influence than the enrichment.

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Environmental enrichment in commercial flocks of aviary housed laying hens: relationship with plumage condition and fearfulness

Cited by 15 publications

References 42 publications

The Aviary Transect—a practical welfare assessment tool to improve the management of cage-free laying hens

The Aviary Transect—a practical welfare assessment tool to improve the management of cage-free laying hens

The abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes in layer chicken ceca is associated with farm enviroment

Influence of an Automatic Enrichment Device on Laying Hen Behavior and Plumage Condition

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