Brown and white layer pullet hybrids show different fear responses towards humans, but what role does light during incubation play in that?

Good early life conditions are increasingly recognized as essential to animal welfare later in life. The use of light during incubation might improve coping capacities and welfare in later life in poultry, by more closely approximating chicken natural environments compared to the current conventional incubation in darkness. Previous studies showed that lighted incubation resulted in more lateralized chicks, a more pronounced daily behavior rhythm, earlier onset of melatonin rhythms, and lower stress reactions to various stressors after hatching. Most existing research, however, has been conducted on broilers, and little information on lighted incubation is available for laying hens. In the current research, Dekalb White and ISA Brown eggs were incubated in complete darkness or in a cycle of green 12 L:12D throughout incubation, and five fear of human tests were performed on the 387 chickens during the rearing phase. We expected dark-incubated chickens to show stronger fear responses than light-incubated chickens. That was only the case for one of 15 behavior measurements taken during the tests (p < 0.05). In addition, white layer hybrids are known to be flightier and more fearful than brown hybrids. In this study, white chickens indeed showed stronger fear responses than brown chickens in 12 of the 15 behavior measurements (p ≤ 0.002). Furthermore, we expected light during incubation to have stronger effects on white chickens than on brown chickens, because of the stronger transmission of light through white eggshells. However, the interaction between hybrid and incubation was never significant (p ≥ 0.18). Finally, contrary to our expectations, there was no effect of the incubation treatments or the hybrid on plasma corticosterone responses to a manual restraint test (p ≥ 0.36). Since there was a hybrid effect on behavior in this test, it is reasonable to think that behavior reflected coping style, rather than fear level. To conclude, the light regime used in this study does not seem as promising as expected to improve laying hen welfare. Finally, the brown hybrid was usually less fearful than the white hybrid, though there were some exceptions depending on the stressor, and that should be taken into account in research and in laying hen management

How much is too much? Feeding live black soldier fly larvae to laying hens

The use of insects in animal feed has the potential to reduce the demand for soybean productionand reduce the deforestation and loss of natural resources. In particular, black soldier fl y (BSF,Hermetia illucens) larvae have received attention due to their ability to convert organic wasteinto high-value biomass. Several studies have investigated the effects of providing BSF larvaeto both broilers and laying hens. However, knowledge gaps regarding hens’ voluntary intakeof live larvae and the effects of larvae consumption on egg production still remain. Therefore,the aim of the present study was to determine the effects of the provision of four differentamounts of live BSF larvae on laying hen feed consumption, hen health and fearfulness, andegg production and quality. To this end, 40 Bovans White laying hens were housed individuallyand provided with 0%, 10%, 20% or ad libitum daily portions of live larvae (relative toexpected dry matter intake) plus a complementary concentrated pelleted feed from 18 to 30weeks of age. Larvae consumption and concentrate consumption, hen weight, egg productionand egg quality were monitored. Overall, differences were found between the hens given adlibitum access to larvae compared to the other treatments. Ad libitum hens, consumed 163± 41 g larvae/hen/day, consumed less concentrates (P = 0.03) and gained more weight (P =0.0002) than all other treatments. They also had an overall higher consumption of protein,fat and energy (P 0.05). Furthermore, therewas no effect on hen behaviour towards a novel object or in an open fi eld test. This studyshows that ad libitum feeding of live BSF larvae had no strong effects on egg production oregg quality, but did reduce feed consumption and increased hen weight, which can have healthconsequences in the long term. Nevertheless, including BSF larvae in the diet of hens couldbe an interesting option for the future

Early-life interventions to prevent feather pecking and reduce fearfulness in laying hens

Severe feather pecking, the pulling out of feathers of conspecifics, is a major welfare issue in laying hens. Possible underlying causes are fearfulness and lack of foraging opportunities. Because early life is a crucial stage in behavioral development, adapting the incubation and rearing environment to the birds' needs may reduce fearfulness and prevent the development of feather pecking. In a 2 × 2 factorial design study, we investigated whether a green light-dark cycle throughout incubation, which resembles natural incubation circumstances more than the standard dark incubation, and foraging enrichment with live larvae during rearing reduce fearfulness and feather pecking and increase foraging behavior of laying hen pullets from an early age onwards. In this 2-batch experiment, 1,100 ISA Brown eggs were incubated under either 0 h of light/24 h of darkness or 12 h of green LED light/12 h of darkness. After hatching, 400 female chicks (200 per batch) were housed in 44 pens (8–10 chicks per pen). During the entire rearing phase (0–17 wk of age), half of the pens received black soldier fly larvae in a food puzzle as foraging enrichment. We assessed fear of novel objects and humans, feather pecking, plumage condition, foraging behavior, and recovery time after a 3-fold vaccination (acute stressor). A slight increase in the number of foraging bouts was only seen with larvae provisioning (rate ratio 1.19, 95% CI 1.02–1.29, P = 0.008). Neither lighted incubation nor larvae provisioning affected fearfulness, feather pecking, plumage condition or recovery time after vaccination. In conclusion, the present study showed no effects of light during incubation and minor effects of foraging enrichment during rearing on the behavior of laying hen pullets. Further research is recommended on other welfare aspects

Overview of the PPILOW project and tools developed for animal welfare self-assessment

International audienc

Do citizens and farmers interpret the concept of farm animal welfare differently?

Animal welfare is of increasing importance in livestock production and consumption debates. However, discordance exists between citizens\u27 and farmers\u27 perception of animal welfare. Since the search for, and the realization of improvements towards farm animal welfare is strongly driven by citizen expectations, it is of utmost importance to better understand this perceptual discordance. A quantitative study was done in Flanders, Belgium during 2006, including citizens as well as farmers, to obtain a detailed insight in the way the multi-dimensional concept of farm animal welfare is valued. This allowed to discriminate between issues of agreement and disagreement. In general, a similar interpretation of farm animal welfare in terms of animal welfare related aspect\u27s ranking was found. Differences were mainly related to aspects dealing with the ability to engage in natural behaviour on the one hand and with production process-related aspects on the other hand. Citizens evaluate the current state of animal welfare as rather problematic, while farmers report a more satisfactory evaluation of the present condition of farm animal welfare. Especially differing opinions regarding the ability to engage in natural behaviour, together with aspects related to pain, stress and the availability of space seem to contribute to the discordance between farmers and citizens in terms of evaluative beliefs

Effects of group size and cage enrichment on social behaviour and skin injuries of breeding rabbits housed part-time in group

Housing of breeding does in group pens can result in skin injuries and stress due to maternal protective behaviour and hierarchy fights. Aggression can be partly reduced by using single-litter cages during the first weeks of the reproductive cycle and by delaying the grouping of does with their litters until the kits are older. Hierarchy fights do still occur in these part-time housing systems, however. The present study evaluated the effect of group size and cage enrichment on doe and kit skin injuries and on doe social behaviour. During four cycles, groups of either three or four does with their 22-day-old kits were housed in group pens for 13 days. Pens were assigned one of the following treatments (n = 12 pens per treatment): group of four does with no additional enrichment, four does with additional cage enrichment, three does with no additional enrichment and three does with additional cage enrichment. Cage enrichment was comprised of plastic pipes and elevated platforms. As pen size remained constant, a change in group size also implied a proportional change in stocking density. The number and severity of skin injuries were monitored before grouping and at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 13 days after grouping. Video recordings from all group pens were scored continuously for doe behaviour during the first 24 h after grouping in the first and second reproduction cycle and for the first 8 h in the third cycle. Four severely injured does needed to be removed after grouping. During the first day after group housing, respectively, 72.6 and 13.0% of the does and kits acquired at least one new skin injury with respect to the onset of group housing. Compared with groups of four, does in groups of three had lower averaged skin injury scores (9.41 versus 8.40, P = 0.004). Of all observed postgrouping social behaviours, submissive behaviour was most frequently observed (42.8%), followed by aggressive behaviour (29.8%), engaging behaviour (25.1%) and non-aggressive social contact (2.3%). Does used the enrichment during 11.1% of the total observation time, during which the platforms were more frequently visited (97.2%) in comparison to the plastic pipes (2.8%). As shown by the percentage of injured animals on the last day of grouping (does: 61.9% and kits: 18.4%), postgrouping aggression remains a problem that appears difficult to reduce to acceptable levels by reducing group size (and stocking density) or by providing cage enrichment