论文信息 - Operant determination of the cage and feeder size preferences of the laying hen

Operant determination of the cage and feeder size preferences of the laying hen

Abstract The design of an apparatus which allows hens to work for feeder space or for cage size is described. Using this apparatus, it is shown that groups of 4 hens will only rarely work to obtain more than the 40-cm length of feed trough which is usually provided in Europe for a group of 4 medium hybrid hens in a deep battery cage. This implies that there is no requirement for a larger feeder. Given the opportunity, the hens chose to spend up to 50% of the day in a cage larger than their usual battery cage, but this effect was highly variable both between groups and from day to day. A more detailed study of which birds in a group work, and of what the birds do in the enlarged cage, is needed before firm conclusions about the cage-size requirements of laying hens can be made.

J. Faure | Jean-Michel Faure

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