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Time course of changes in egg-shell quality, faecal corticosteroids and behaviour as welfare measures in laying hens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

MS Dawkins ,
A Edmond ,
A Lord ,
S Solomon  and
M Bain
MS Dawkins*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
A Edmond
Affiliation:
Division of Veterinary Anatomy, Glasgow Veterinary School, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1QH, Scotland, UK
A Lord
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
S Solomon
Affiliation:
Division of Veterinary Anatomy, Glasgow Veterinary School, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1QH, Scotland, UK
M Bain
Affiliation:
Division of Veterinary Anatomy, Glasgow Veterinary School, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1QH, Scotland, UK
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The aim of this study was to assess the extent to which three non-invasive measures of welfare in laying hens (egg-shell quality, corticosteroid levels as measured from the birds' faeces, and behavioural preferences) were correlated over a period of five days in two groups of birds. One group had access to an enriched test area (bark chips on the floor and a tray of sprouted wheat); the other group had access to a comparably sized barren area (bare wire mesh floor). The measure of preference used was the amount of time hens spent in the test area as measured each day. It was predicted that birds with access to the less preferred environment would show higher levels of faecal corticosteroids and egg-shell anomalies. However, although the birds showed a preference for the enriched environment from Day 1, the other two measures did not follow the same pattern. Faecal corticosteroid metabolites showed an initial increase in both groups, which declined significantly by Day 4, with the ‘enriched’ birds in fact showing a trend for higher levels than the ‘barren’ birds. Shell thickness also showed a change over the five days, but with a different time course: declining to a minimal level on Day 3 and then rising again by Day 5. No measure of shell quality was significantly different between the two environments, but there was a trend for changes in shell thickness to be more pronounced in eggs from enriched birds. The results indicate the caution that needs to be exercised in using shell quality or corticosteroid measurements in isolation from assessments of what the animals themselves prefer.

Keywords

animal welfarebehaviourcorticosteroidhenspreferenceshell quality
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , August 2004 , pp. 321 - 327
Copyright
© 2004 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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