Light and Larvae for Little Layers: Early-life strategies to improve welfare of laying hens on low-input and organic farms

In 2023, approximately 387.4 million laying hens were kept in the European Union (EU), 30 million of which were in the Netherlands. Laying hens are kept in various housing systems. Only 22% of those in the Netherlands are considered free-range chickens. Free-range chickens have the opportunity to roam freely outdoors for at least part of the day and express essential behaviors, such as foraging, dust bathing and sunbathing. When chickens are limited in their ability to express these behaviors, they may develop damaging behavior, such as feather pecking. Feather pecking involves pecking and pulling of feathers from conspecifics, which could lead to injuries and cannibalism. Feather pecking is also associated with fearfulness and stress sensitivity, both in the pecker and the victim. Therefore, feather pecking is a major welfare problem in the egg sector. Early-life conditions, even before hatching, can determine how a chicken develops. Adapting these conditions to better match chicken needs may improve the chicken’s capacity to deal with later challenges. In other words, the chicken may be less fearful and develop less damaging behavior. Two strategies were tested in the experiments described in this dissertation, with the goal to adjust the early-life conditions to limit negative behavior (e.g. feather pecking) and stimulate positive behavior (e.g. foraging). The first strategy comprised exposure to a light-dak cycle during the incubation process of laying hen chicks (in contrast to incubation in complete darkness, which is currently default at commercial hatcheries); the second was to provide these chickens with live insect larvae as foraging enrichment. Although the effects were small, chickens that were exposed to a light-dark cycle during incubation were slightly less fearful and chickens that had larvae access foraged more often than the control groups. The strategies had no effect on feather pecking. These experiments were conducted as part of the EU Horizon2020 project PPILOW (Poultry and Pig Low-input and Organic production systems’ Welfare, www.ppilow.eu). Within this project, we also conducted a survey among poultry farmers, veterinarians and other members of the egg supply chain. This survey provides insight into their perspective on the opportunities, risks and applicability of measures to improve animal welfare in the poultry sector. A descriptive analysis of 122 responses showed that supply chain actors are aware of the potential benefits of welfare-improving practices, for both the animals and farmers. Most of the studied practices were considered applicable in practice, although the willingness of consumers to pay a price premium was thought to be an important factor to implement the measure successfully. High labor and implementation costs, strict regulations and unpredictable policies were identified as main barriers for adopting the practices. Worldwide, the EU is frontrunner regarding laying hen welfare. This is shown, for example, in the relatively small percentage of chickens kept in cages. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of room for improvement, also on free-range farms. This requires a team effort from science, government, the poultry sector, and consumers.