Pecking behaviour of laying hens in single-tiered aviaries with and without outdoor area

Abstract

1. The objective of the present study was to examine the behaviour of laying hens in single-tiered aviaries with and without outdoor areas with particular reference to the proportion of each behaviour and the ways it changed. 2. In all, 144 interbred cross layers (WL/RIR cross-breed) were used. At the age of 16 weeks, the hens were divided at random into two groups and moved to single-tiered aviary (SA) and free-range systems (FR, SA with in addition an outdoor range area covered with clover) with 18 hens per pen. Behavioural observations were conducted before, during and after access to the range. 3. All behaviours using the beak (eating, grazing, drinking, preening, aggressive pecking, feather pecking, litter pecking, object pecking and mate pecking) were recorded as pecking behaviour. 4. While most of the FR hens spent their time outside foraging, the proportion of hens eating, preening, litter pecking, object pecking, aggressive pecking and feather pecking was higher in SA than in FR hens. 5. The proportion of hens performing pecking behaviour of all types was very similar in SA (61.7 +/- 2.0%) and in FR (64.0 +/- 0.8%). The proportion of hens performing overall pecking behaviour increased as pre-laying sitting decreased. 6. The proportion of hens feather pecking decreased in FR during access to range and a similar tendency was found for aggressive pecking. 7. In conclusion, the total proportion of hens pecking was almost the same regardless of whether an outdoor area was provided or not, but the incidence of different types of pecking behaviour differed between SA and FR. The risk of feather pecking in FR may be lower when an outdoor grazing area is provided, although further testing on a larger scale would be essential.

Welfare of organic laying hens kept at different indoor stocking densities in a multi-tier aviary system. II: live weight, health measures and perching

“…In the present study the daily access to forage is likely to have contributed to the absence of severe feather pecking and the low mortality, as also found by Steenfeldt et al (2007). Hens with access to an outdoor area have been found to show less aggressive pecking and feather pecking (Shimmura et al, 2008). Although all our hens had outdoor access, birds remained more inside in the larger groups (Steenfeldt and Nielsen, 2015), thereby increasing the risk of being pecked.…”

Hen welfare in different housing systems

“…Perches affect welfare of birds on many levels, reducing fear, improving motor activity, and providing preferred resting locations. Recent studies have concentrated on perch orientation (Struelens et al, 2008b), perch height (Struelens et al, 2008a), and access to an outdoor area (Shimmura et al, 2008b). Genetic differences in susceptibility to fear in a given social environment affect perch usage and thus the social environment.…”

Effect of Group Size on Performance and Egg Quality of Laying Hens During 20 to 36 Weeks of Age

“…In fact, as each hen in the two tested groups had 67 cm 2 of nest, the overall area of the nest increased with the number of hens per cage. In general, the hens were highly motivated to lay in the nest (Cooper and Appleby, 1996), but the most of eggs were laid in the first hours after lights were turned on (Barnett et al, 2009) and this behaviour can be responsible of competitions for the nest (Shimmura et al, 2008) more detectable in the S25 group in which the allowance of nesting space was reduced. On the other hand, in a study on the effect of group size on welfare of laying hens, Guo et al (2012) observed that birds in small group size (21 animals) significantly spent more time in nesting activity with respect to the hens from large group size (48 birds).…”