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The effect of ramp provision on the accessibility of the litter in single and multi-tier laying hen housing

I. Pettersson,C. Weeks,C. Nicol

Published 2017 in Applied Animal Behaviour Science

ABSTRACT

Abstract Level changes in commercial laying hen loose-housing systems may be physically difficult for birds to negotiate, preventing or limiting access to resources such as the litter area and the outdoor range, and potentially increasing injury risk. The aim of this research was to investigate bird behaviour at an important level change (traversing between the raised slats/first tier and the litter), and whether it was affected by ramp provision or system. Birds were either observed at the edge of a single-tier with a full width ramp (ST-R), or at a section of tier edge without ramp in multi-tier systems (MT-NR) or in single-tier systems (ST-NR), both equipped with no ramps or only intermittent ramps throughout. Compared with single-tier systems, a greater proportion of birds that showed an initial orientation towards the litter moved away without traversing in the MT-NR group (p

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2017

  • Venue

    Applied Animal Behaviour Science

  • Publication date

    Unknown publication date

  • Fields of study

    Agricultural and Food Sciences, Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1016/J.APPLANIM.2016.10.012
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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