The aim of this experiment was to study the light source preference in laying hens reared in either artificial or natural light

Gunnarsson, Stefan

Heikkilä, Matti

Valros, Anna

English

Organic Eprints

                                       NORDIC ISAE 2006                Proceedings of the 18th Nordic Symposium of the                              International Society for Applied Ethology                                  18-19 January 2006                                   Espoo, Finland         SSES                                          Edited by FINNISH SOCIETY FOR                                Hannu T. Korhonen, Satu Raussi,                        APPLIED ETHOLOGY                                    Laura Hänninen & Matti Heikkilä                                                                                      CONTENTS    Nordic ISAE 2006 Programme…………………………………1  Abstracts of oral presentations…………………………………3  List of participants………………………………………….…21                                          Organising Committee      Satu Raussi, Anna Valros, Marianna Norring, Jaakko Mononen,    Teppo Rekilä, Laura Hänninen, Matti Heikkilä, Hannu T. Korhonen                           Finnish Society for Applied Ethology           Proceedings of the 18th Nordic Symposium of the International Society for Applied Ethology  Editors: Hannu T. Korhonen, Satu Raussi, Laura Hänninen & Matti Heikkilä Published by: Finnish Society for Applied Ethology     Light source preferences in laying hens  Matti Heikkilä1*, Stefan Gunnarsson2 and Anna Valros1 1 Research Centre for Animal Welfare, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, P.O.Box 57, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland 2 Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), P.O.Box 234, SE-532 23 Skara, Sweden  Most severe behavioural problems (feather pecking and cannibalism) in loose housing systems for laying hens originate from the rearing period. In organic egg production, natural light is compulsory during the laying period, but not during the rearing. There is little knowledge about the effect of different light sources on behavioural development. The effect of early exposure to natural light may have an effect on the preference of light type later in life. The aim of this experiment was to study the light source preference in laying hens reared in either artificial or natural light. 126 LSL-chicks were divided into 3 light treatments (in total 18 pens): 1) A8: 8 hours artificial light + 16 hours dark, 2) A16: 16 hours artificial light + 8 hours dark and 3) N8: 8 hours natural light + 16 hours dark. Birds were reared in these light treatments for the first 14 weeks of their life. At that age, the birds´ light type preference on a group level was tested by connecting two adjacent pens with a tunnel, which gave birds access to both natural and artificial light. Birds were video recorded for 4 hours before changing the side of light sources and doing another 4-hour recording. Data was scored using scan sampling (5-min interval) and it was analysed using ANOVA. There was no difference in body weight of the chicks in different treatments at the age of 14 weeks. Chicks reared in artificial light spent significantly more time in artificial light than chicks reared in natural light [p = 0.02 (A8 vs. N8), p = 0.01 (A16 vs. N8)]. N8-chicks spent equal amount of time in natural and artificial light.  These results showed that chicks reared in artificial light preferred artificial light at the age of 14 weeks. This supports the idea that chicks for organic egg production (with access to natural light) should also be reared with access to natural light, but there is still a need for long-term studies on this. The results may also imply that birds reared with access to natural light are more adaptable to a changing light environment.                  13

Light source preferences in laying hens

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