Food, wood, or plastic as substrates for dustbathing and foraging in laying hens: A preference test

Poultry Science
B ScholzL Schrader

Abstract

The provision for dustbathing material will be a legal requirement in cage-housing systems for laying hens within the European Union beginning in 2012. At present, food particles are widely used and typically offered in small amounts on Astroturf mats one or more times per day to facilitate dustbathing, pecking, and scratching. In the present study, we compared layers' preference for food and 3 other (nonnutritive) substrates for foraging and dustbathing. In each of 2 identical trials, 72 hens of 2 genotypes (Lohmann Selected Leghorn and Lohmann Brown) were kept in 12 compartments (6 hens each). Compartments were equipped with a plastic grid floor and additionally contained 4 different dustbathing trays (each 1,000 cm(2)/hen) holding either wood shavings (WS), lignocellulose (LN, soft wood fiber, pelleted), Astroturf mat without substrate (AT), or food particles (FP). Hens were housed from 18 wk of age and video recordings were done at wk 21, 24, and 27. Time spent and frequency of dustbathing, duration of a single dustbath (DB), frequency of foraging behavior, and relative frequency and duration of behavioral patterns within a single DB were recorded during the light period over 2 d in each observation week. The FP treatment w...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 5, 2014·Poultry Science·B ScholzL Schrader
Jun 21, 2020·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Valerie MoncktonAlexandra Harlander-Matauschek
Dec 29, 2020·Frontiers in Veterinary Science·Valerie MoncktonAlexandra Harlander-Matauschek
Nov 6, 2020·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Valerie MoncktonAlexandra Harlander-Matauschek
Jun 3, 2021·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Victoria SandilandsSarah Brocklehurst

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