Does occasional movement make pecking devices more attractive to domestic chicks?

British Poultry Science
R B Jones

Abstract

1. Previous studies have shown that a bunch of string is a particularly attractive pecking stimulus for chicks and adult laying hens. Because movement is thought to be an important attribute of enrichment objects, this study determined whether occasional movement would affect the attractiveness of this device. 2. In experiment 1 the responses of pair-housed chicks to string were compared when devices in adjacent cages were either linked (so that pecking or pulling at the string in one cage moved the adjoining one) or not (separate). In experiment 2 the devices in half the cages were jigged remotely by the experimenter whereas the others remained static. In both cases, the string devices were introduced into the cages for 10 min on each of 5 consecutive days. 3. No treatment effects were apparent in experiment 1 when pooled data was analysed but comparison of responses on days 1 and 5 revealed that only the chicks presented with non-linked devices showed increased interest with repeated exposure. 4. Chicks given static devices in experiment 2 pecked sooner, more often and longer at them than did those exposed to similar ones that were jigged regularly by the experimenter. Jigged devices attracted slightly more pecking with repea...Continue Reading

References

Nov 1, 1991·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·J J Bolhuis
Jun 1, 1995·The Quarterly Review of Biology·A Boissy
Oct 1, 1997·Animal Behaviour·B Huber-eicher, B Wechsler
Sep 1, 1988·Behavioural Processes·R C NewberryJ W Hall
Jan 1, 1992·Behavioural Processes·R B Jones, R J Andrew

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