Chicken

Effects of prior video stimulation on open-field behaviour in domestic chicks tested with or without a familiar video image

Chickens who receive limited sensory stimulation are more likely to show fearfulness. Regular video stimulation was found to reduce chick's fear of an unfamiliar environment.

Year Published: 1999Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Clarke, C. H., Jones, R. B. 1999. Effects of prior video stimulation on open-field behaviour in domestic chicks tested with or without a familiar video image. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 66, 107-117.

Exploratory behaviour of young domestic fowl

Chickens readily entered areas peripheral to their home pen when these contained objects that were changed daily.

Year Published: 1999Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Newberry, R. C. 1999. Exploratory behaviour of young domestic fowl. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 63, 311-321.

Responses of domestic chicks to selected pecking devices presented for varying durations

Our studies suggest that string [a pecking device] may be an attractive and practicable stimulus that affords chicken the opportunity to exercise a behaviour fundamental to their nature.

Year Published: 1999Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Jones, R. B., Carmichael, N. L. 1999. Responses of domestic chicks to selected pecking devices presented for varying durations. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 64, 125-140.

Music in the hen house: a survey of its incidence and perceived benefits

Playing the radio made laying hens calmer and more productive.

Year Published: 1999Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Jones, R. B., Rayner, S. 1999. Music in the hen house: a survey of its incidence and perceived benefits. Poultry Science 78(Supplement 1), 110 (Abstract).

Can ‘environmental enrichment’ affect domestic chickens? preferences for one half of an otherwise symmetrical home cage?

The design and assessment of enrichment and husbandry procedures should also take into account the transitory neophobia likely to accompany the introduction of unfamiliar resources.

Year Published: 1999Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Jones, R. B., Carmichael, N. L. 1999. Can 'environmental enrichment' affect domestic chickens? preferences for one half of an otherwise symmetrical home cage? Animal Welfare 8, 159-164.

Responses of adult laying hens to abstract video images presented repeatedly outside the home cage

The present findings clearly demonstrate that abstract video images, presented in front of the home cage for 10 min on consecutive days, reliably attracted and sustained the interest of individually housed laying hens for as long as 8 days.

Year Published: 2000Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Clarke, C. H., Jones, R. B. 2000. Responses of adult laying hens to abstract video images presented repeatedly outside the home cage. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 67, 97-110.

Pecking preferences and pre-dispositions in domestic chicks: implications for the development of environmental enrichment devices

White or yellow strings were preferred to red, green or blue ones and white string elicited more pecking than did combinations of white and yellow or of all five colors. Varying the length and width of the bunches of string...

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Jones, B. R., Carmichael, N. L., Rayner, E. 2000. Pecking preferences and pre-dispositions in domestic chicks: implications for the development of environmental enrichment devices . Applied Animal Behaviour Science 69, 291-312.

The demand for straw and feathers as litter substrates by laying hens

This study aimed to determine the importance of straw and feathers to laying. .. All birds worked to gain access to straw but only three worked for feathers. .. Even if a substrate does not support dustbathing, caged layers have...

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Gunnarsson, S., Matthews, L. R., Foster, T. M. et al. 2000. The demand for straw and feathers as litter substrates by laying hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 65, 321-330.

Working for a dustbath: are hens increasing pleasure rather than reducing suffering? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 68, 39-53

Dustbathing is one of the major behavioural systems of domestic fowl that is constrained by commercial caging systems. ... In this study, we measured hens' willingness to work to obtain substrate for dustbathing using a vertically swinging door to which...

Year Published: 2000Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Widowski, T. M., Duncan, I. J. H. 2000. Working for a dustbath: are hens increasing pleasure rather than reducing suffering? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 68, 39-53.

Attentional shifts alter pain perception in the chicken

In humans, psychological manipulations such as hypnosis, behavioural modification, relaxation traning and cognitive behaviour therapy have all been used to reduce pain intensity. One thing these treatments have in comon is selective attention. Work on attention-based cognitive coping strategies has...

Year Published: 2001Animal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Gentle, M. J. 2001. Attentional shifts alter pain perception in the chicken. Animal Welfare 10(Supplement), 187-194.