Application of open field, tonic immobility, and attention bias tests to hens with different ranging patterns.

ABSTRACT: Assessment of negative affective states is a key component of animal welfare research. In laying hens, excessive fearfulness results in reduced production and increased sensitivity to stress. Fearfulness can be defined as a response to a known threat, but anxiety is a response to an unknown threat and may have similar negative consequences. The open field test and tonic immobility test are commonly applied to measure fearfulness in laying hens. An attention bias test that measured individual hen's responses to playback of a conspecific alarm call in the presence of food was recently pharmacologically validated using an anxiogenic drug but was confounded by the hen's typical motionless response in a novel environment. The current study used 56-week old free-range layers to further assess th

SUBMITTER: Campbell DLM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6882422 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature