Effects of age, access and time of day on perching behaviour in the domestic fowl

Abstract

Previous work suggested that type of perch, strain, individual preferences and repeated exposure were important factors affecting perching behaviour in domestic fowl. This experiment studied both sexes of 3 strains of pen-housed domestic fowl (‘S’ line — White Leghorn; ‘T’ line — derived from a Rhode Island Red × Light Sussex cross; ‘J’ line — Brown Leghorn), from 6 to 18 weeks of age. They were housed in same-strain, mixed-sex groups of 25–30. Perching behaviour was influenced by the factors of type of perch, sex, age, time of day, strain and continuous access which also interacted with each other. A wire-mesh perch was found to be attractive. Very high densities of birds were observed on it, with no resultant aggression. The sex × strain × type of perch interaction strongly suggested that the design of perches should take sex and strain of the birds into account.