Temporal Patterning of Oral Stereotypies in Restricted-fed Fowls: 2. Investigations with a Single Daily Meal

Abstract

Expression of oral stereotypies directed at the drinker (drinking) and empty feeder (pecking), by young, caged, restricted-fed broiler breeder fowls, was investigated in three experiments in which either the frequency of feeding or meal size was varied. Behaviour was measured from regular 15-min videorecordings. In Experiment 1, birds were provided with either one (lA), two (IB) or four (IC) hourly meals of 5 g in the morning, and a single balance meal in the afternoon. Treatment IC caused increases in drinking and pecking, compared with lA and IB, but effects of meal number and the total weight of food eaten during testing were indistinguishable.In Experiment 2, birds were provided with four meals of equal size in the morning, at either 1.5, 1 or 0.5 hr intervals, with a balance meal in the afternoon in the first week only. There was no difference among these treatments in drinking or pecking at any time, and neither stereotypy responded to variation in inter-feeding interval length in the ways predicted by two alternative theoretical models, constructed for adjunctive behaviours. Additional information from Experiment 1, and a comparison between Experiments 1 and 2, indicated that both stereotypies were correlated positively with meal size and/or the total amount eaten during testing. In Experiment 3, birds were provided with two meals (only) of unequal size at 09.00 and 12.00 h, and were conditioned to receiving either the large meal (32 g) first, the small meal (8 g) first, or large and small meals in random order. The main finding was that pecking declined from the first to the third hour after the small meal only when the small meal came first, and did not do so after the large meal. This suggests that the rate at which stereotyped pecking declines after eating may depend on the amount that is eaten.

Effects of water access time and unlimited access to alfalfa straw on litter quality, performance, and behavior of breeder pullets

“…The initial expectation was that higher water use would lead to increased water consumption, in turn resulting in wetter fresh feces, as found in broilers by van Harn et al (2019) . The literature indicates that controlled feed amounts for breeder pullets may lead to abnormal behaviors, such as higher water intake or playing with water and thus spilling it ( Hocking et al, 1996 , 2001 ; Savory and Kostal, 1996 ; de Jong et al, 2002 ). In the current study, despite the lack of differences in the dry-matter content of the fresh feces, the dry-matter content below the drinking-nipple line was much lower in pens with 5 and 8 h of water access.…”

“…Behavioral research has consistently indicated that feed restriction in broiler breeder pullets leads to abnormal behavior, indicating hunger and frustration. This manifests in stereotypical pecking behavior toward objects, such as walls, empty feeding systems, and empty water systems ( Hocking et al, 1996 , 2001 ; Savory and Kostal, 1996 ; de Jong et al, 2002 ). Alfalfa straw is a common variant of roughage with low energy and high fiber content, and alfalfa is assumed to help reducing stereotypical behavior ( Elmutalab, 1998 ; Verwer and Wagenaar, 2009 ; Hu et al, 2021 ).…”

Effect van tijdsduur waterverstrekking en het verstrekken van luzernestro op strooiselkwaliteit, performance en gedrag van opfok vleeskuikenouderdieren

“…In literatuur van 20 tot 25 jaar geleden ging men uit van een voergift tijdens de opfokperiode van 25 tot 34% t.o.v. de ad libitum voeropname (Savory et al,1996;de Jong et al, 2002) Vanuit gedragsonderzoek zijn er aanwijzingen dat voercontrole bij vleeskuikenouderdieren resulteert in afwijkende gedragingen die indicatief kunnen zijn voor honger en frustratie. Dit uit zich in stereotiep pikgedrag naar objecten zoals muren, voersystemen, watersystemen en gaas (Hocking et al, 1996(Hocking et al, , 2001Savory en Kostal, 1996;de Jong et al, 2002).…”

“…De verwachting was dat bij een hoger waterverbruik een belangrijk deel van het water gebruikt werd om op te nemen wat weer leidde tot natter verse mest. De wetenschappelijk literatuur geeft namelijk aan dat doordat vleeskuikenouderdieren een gecontroleerde hoeveelheid voer krijgen, de dieren afwijkend gedrag vertonen zoals meer water opnemen, meer spelen met water en dus vermorsen (Hocking et al, 1996(Hocking et al, , 2001Savory and Kostal, 1996;de Jong et al, 2002) Door het ontbreken van vergelijkbaar onderzoek met luzerne aan kippen in relatie tot strooisel kwaliteit waren er geen verwachtingen over dit onderwerp. Men kan beredeneren dat het verstrekken van luzerne een positief effect kan hebben op de strooiselkwaliteit omdat de dieren het luzerne ook morsen op het strooisel wat weer meer scharrel-en foerageergedrag in en op het strooisel geeft.…”