Effects of rearing environment on development of dustbathing and feather pecking in domestic chickens

Abstract

We investigated whether lack of sand during early stages of development leads to increased feather pecking and problems with dustbathing in domestic chickens. Eight groups of ten female White Leghorn chicks were kept in wire floor cages from hatching. From 2 days of age, four groups had continuous access to trays with dark dry sand, while the others had frames of the same size on the wire floor. Light ( 10 lx) was on for 16 h each day. After 5 h, the light intensity was raised to 250 lx for 1.5 h. Observations were made for 21 days during the first hour of high light intensity. No significant differences in dustbathing activity (mean& SE bouts per group 152.0 f 36.2 vs. 138.5 f 25.8) and number of feather pecks during dustbathing ( 153.5 & 30.6 vs. 189.8 5 102.4 per group) were seen (P>O.lO). Twenty-four hour time lapse video recordings revealed that the groups without sand showed fewer daily bouts of dustbathing (9.9 k2.7 vs. 20.1 f4.5; P<O.Ol) Plumage scoring at 5 weeks of age showed that the plumage of birds without access to sand was significantly (P < 0.02) more deteriorated than that of birds with access to sand. At 6 weeks of age, the birds were allocated to 24 groups of three birds. Following continuous access to sand, they were tested after 1 day of deprivation. The chicks reared without sand performed more vertical wing-shakes (P < 0.002)) but otherwise dustbathing behaviour seemed similar. No significant differences were revealed in feather pecking and latency to dustbathing. It is concluded that lack of sand during rearing leads to fewer bouts of dustbathing and increased plumage deterioration, but it does not seem to affect feather pecking during dustbathing or ability to perform normal dustbathing in young chicks.