Effects of nest quality and other cues for exploration on pre-laying behaviour

Abstract Persistence of searching behaviour during the pre-laying period in the presence of a suitable nest site may indicate that hens are strongly motivated to perform this behaviour. This was investigated by observing behaviour in environments with or without a suitable nest site and other cues for exploration. Eleven hens were tested individually in four environments using a 2 × 2 experimental design: presence or absence of litter and presence or absence of an exploratory walkway. Comparing pre-laying behaviour between environments with unlittered and littered nest box, longer durations of pre-laying behaviour (151(±20) vs. 110(±13) min, ANOVA, df = 1,27; P

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