Environmental change or choice during early rearing improves behavioural adaptability in laying hen chicks.

ABSTRACT: Laying hens are typically moved to a novel environment after rearing, requiring adaptability to cope with change. We hypothesized that the standard rearing of laying hen chicks, in non-changing environments with limited choices (a single variant of each resource), impairs their ability to learn new routines, use new equipment and exploit new resources. On the contrary, rearing in a changing environment that also offers a choice of resource variants could better prepare chicks for the unexpected. To explore this hypothesis, environmental change and choice were manipulated in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment. Compared to standard rearing, greater change during early rearing, through repeatedly swapping litter and perch types, reduced initial freezing when exposed to a novel environment suggestin

SUBMITTER: Skanberg L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10105694 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature