Author(s) |
Campbell, Dana L M
Horton, Brian J
Hinch, Geoff N
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Publication Date |
2018-11-16
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Abstract |
Free-range laying hen systems provide individuals a choice between indoor and outdoor areas where range use may be socially influenced. This study used radio-frequency identification technology to track the ranging of individually-tagged hens housed in six experimental free-range pens from 28 to 38 weeks of age (46–50 hens/pen). All daily visits to the range were used to study group behaviour. Results showed that 67.6% (SD = 5.0%) of all hen movements through the pop-holes outdoors or indoors were following the movement of another hen (‘pop-hole-following’) compared to only 50.5% of movements in simulated random data. The percentage overlap in time that all combinations of hen pairs within each pen spent simultaneously outdoors or indoors showed a median value of overlap greater than the 90th percentile of random data. Pens housing hens that had been provided variable enrichments from 4 to 21 days (n = 3 pens) showed higher ‘pop-hole-following’ behaviour and a higher percentage of hen-pair association compared to hens reared in non-enriched conditions (n = 3 pens). These results show that birds in each free-range pen were primarily a cohesive flock and early enrichment improved this social cohesiveness. These results have implications for understanding free-range flock-level behaviour.
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Citation |
Animals, 8(11), p. 1-16
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ISSN |
2076-2615
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Link | |
Publisher |
MDPI AG
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Rights |
Attribution 4.0 International
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Title |
Using Radio-Frequency Identification Technology to Measure Synchronised Ranging of Free-Range Laying Hens
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Type of document |
Journal Article
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Entity Type |
Publication
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Name | Size | format | Description | Link |
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openpublished/UsingCampbellHinch2018JournalArticle.pdf | 2260.467 KB | application/pdf | Published version | View document |