The impact of early-life conditions on visual discrimination abilities in free-ranging laying hens

Charlotte Vanden hole; Michael Plante-Ajah; Saskia Kliphuis; Maëva Manet; Bas Rodenburg; Frank Tuyttens

doi:10.1016/j.psj.2024.104236

The impact of early-life conditions on visual discrimination abilities in free-ranging laying hens

Charlotte Vanden hole
, Michael Plante-Ajah
, Saskia Kliphuis
, Maëva Manet
, Bas Rodenburg
, Frank Tuyttens^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Wageningen University & Research

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Conditions during incubation and rearing can greatly affect the developmental trajectory of chickens, in a positive and negative way. In this study, the effect of early-life conditions on the visual discrimination abilities of adult, free-ranging laying hens was examined. These early-life treatments entailed incubation in a 12/12h green light/dark cycle and rearing with Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as foraging enrichment. Through a modified pebble-floor test, 171 hens of 41 to 42 wk old, housed in mobile stables with outdoor access, were tested for their ability to discriminate between food and nonfood items (mealworms and decoy mealworms). Each hen was allowed 60 pecks during the trial, from which the overall success rate, as well as within-trial learning was investigated. The latter was accomplished by dividing the 60 pecks into 3 blocks of 20 pecks and comparing the success rate between these blocks. Due to another ongoing experiment on range use, roughly half the hens received range enrichment (mealworms) at the time of testing, so this was included as a covariate in the analysis. Incubation with green light did not have an effect on the visual discrimination abilities of adult laying hens. Rearing with BSFL did have a limited beneficial effect on the visual discrimination abilities, as evidenced by a higher success rate during the first block of the visual discrimination trial. These enhanced visual discrimination abilities might be useful in a more complex free-range setting, where the animals have more foraging opportunities. Hens that received range enrichment at the time of testing, also had a higher success rate during the visual discrimination test, though they had a lower degree of test completion, likely due to habituation to the mealworms as an enrichment. The positive effects of BSFL during rearing and mealworms during the laying period stress the importance of enrichment throughout the life of the hens.

Original language	English
Article number	104236
Number of pages	13
Journal	Poultry Science
Volume	103
Issue number	11
Early online date	Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2024.104236
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors

Funding

This study was part of the PPILOW project (Poultry and Pig Low-Input and Organic production systems' Welfare) and the ChickenStress European Training Network. PPILOW has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N degrees 816172. Chicken-Stress received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skodowska-Curie grant agreement N degrees 812777. The authors would like to thank Dimitri Van Grembergen, Dana De Wart, Evelien Graat, Anja Van Havermaet and Marleen van Yperen for assistance with sampling and the poultry caretakers at ILVO.

Funders	Funder number
Horizon 2020	816172
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions	812777

Keywords

black soldier fly
early-life
enrichment
laying hen
visual discrimination

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10.1016/j.psj.2024.104236Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

1-s2.0-S0032579124008150-mainFinal published version, 2.01 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "The impact of early-life conditions on visual discrimination abilities in free-ranging laying hens",

abstract = "Conditions during incubation and rearing can greatly affect the developmental trajectory of chickens, in a positive and negative way. In this study, the effect of early-life conditions on the visual discrimination abilities of adult, free-ranging laying hens was examined. These early-life treatments entailed incubation in a 12/12h green light/dark cycle and rearing with Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as foraging enrichment. Through a modified pebble-floor test, 171 hens of 41 to 42 wk old, housed in mobile stables with outdoor access, were tested for their ability to discriminate between food and nonfood items (mealworms and decoy mealworms). Each hen was allowed 60 pecks during the trial, from which the overall success rate, as well as within-trial learning was investigated. The latter was accomplished by dividing the 60 pecks into 3 blocks of 20 pecks and comparing the success rate between these blocks. Due to another ongoing experiment on range use, roughly half the hens received range enrichment (mealworms) at the time of testing, so this was included as a covariate in the analysis. Incubation with green light did not have an effect on the visual discrimination abilities of adult laying hens. Rearing with BSFL did have a limited beneficial effect on the visual discrimination abilities, as evidenced by a higher success rate during the first block of the visual discrimination trial. These enhanced visual discrimination abilities might be useful in a more complex free-range setting, where the animals have more foraging opportunities. Hens that received range enrichment at the time of testing, also had a higher success rate during the visual discrimination test, though they had a lower degree of test completion, likely due to habituation to the mealworms as an enrichment. The positive effects of BSFL during rearing and mealworms during the laying period stress the importance of enrichment throughout the life of the hens.",

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ER -

The impact of early-life conditions on visual discrimination abilities in free-ranging laying hens

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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