Litter and perch type matter already from the start: exploring preferences and perch balance in laying hen chicks

Increasing Environmental Complexity by Providing Different Types of Litter and Perches during Early Rearing Boosts Coping Abilities in Domestic Fowl Chicks

“…One possible explanation for the difference in the repeated opportunity test and the greater success of chicks from the multi-choice environments could be that they had experience of approaching and using various forms of resources from day one. We have previously shown, using the same litter and perch types, that chicks prefer certain litter types for certain behaviors and that different perch types affect chicks’ ability to land on them [ 34 ]. This suggests that the multi-choice environment would have given chicks a more diverse training in the behaviors involved in perch use, such as jumping and balancing, as well as increased and diversified foraging and dustbathing opportunities.…”

“…If the pens in the single-choice treatment pens had all contained the same litter and perch type, then it would not have been possible to exclude that the beneficial effects of being reared in a multi-choice treatment pen were attributable to some aspect of the novel litter or perch type. Apart from supporting that chicks do seem to choose between variants [ 34 ], it is also possible that the different combinations of litter and perch types, even in the single-choice treatment, may have affected the physiological and behavioral development of the chicks. We cannot assess this, since we did not have all possible combinations of the litter and perch types.…”

Start on the Right Foot: Choice in a Complex Early Environment Boosts Coping Abilities in the Domestic Fowl Chick

“…One possible explanation for the difference in the repeated challenge test and the greater success of birds from the Choice environments, could be that they had experience of approaching and using various forms of resources from day one. We have previously shown, using the same litter and perch types, that chicks prefer certain substrate types for certain behaviours and that different perch types affect their abilities to land on them 38 . This suggests that the Choice environment would have given birds a more diverse training of the behaviours involved around perch use, such as jumping and balancing, as well as increased and diversi ed foraging opportunities.…”

“…The perch designs were round rubber, braided rope, at wood and at wire. The substrates and perch types were chosen due to their different characteristics, as well as based on a pilot study showing that different substrates and perches were preferred for different types of behaviour 38 . Test substrates were presented in four trays (71 x 35 x 3.5 cm, see Fig.…”

Rationale for Defining Recognition of “Higher Animal Welfare” Farm Assurance Schemes in a Global Food System: The GAWA Alliance

“…Certification or assurance schemes are schemes which certify, or provide assurance on, the conditions of farm production, including the level of welfare to which animals are reared (Hubbard, 2012). The assurance of welfare is mainly based on the provision of certain resources (known as input measures) that keep animals safe, comfortable healthy and allow them to meet their behavioural needs: for example, providing hens with a suitable substrate(s) for dustbathing, a behaviour that hens are strongly motivated to perform (Olsson and Keeling, 2005), and therefore suitable litter being a resource that hens want (e.g., Skånberg et al, 2021). According to Dawkins' definition of welfare ("are animals healthy and do they have what they want?…”