The influence of sequential feeding on behaviour, feed intake and feather condition in laying hens

Abstract

Feeding of whole-wheat grains and a protein–mineral concentrate in sequence had been shown to modify behaviour in broilers and performance in laying hens. The objective of this study was to test whether sequential feeding with wheat would induce changes in laying hen's behaviour, feed intake, feather condition, and egg production. These parameters were measured on 320 non-beak-trimmed ISA Brown laying hens from 30 to 37 week of age. The birds were placed in 64 standard cages (five birds/cage) and allotted to one of four treatments. The control (C) was fed a complete conventional diet. Three treatments were fed sequentially with whole wheat (SWW), ground wheat (SGW) or ground wheat with added vitamin premix + phosphorus + 2% oil (SGWI). In sequential treatments, 50% of the ration was fed as wheat and the remaining 50% as a protein–mineral concentrate (balancer diet). All treatments received their daily ration in two distributions: 09:00 (4 h after light on) and 16:00 h (5 h before light off). During weeks 30, 32 and 34, hens’ behaviour was recorded using scan sampling method (once per week during the light period), while focal sampling was used between the 32 and 34 weeks (2 h after each feeding, and 2 h in between). Feather condition of individual hen was scored at 30 and 37 weeks, number of eggs and feed intake were recorded weekly. Sequential feeding delayed the oviposition for almost 1 h. When fed wheat-based diet (09:00–16:00 h) SWW birds spent less time feeding and stood still longer compared to birds in other treatments. Four hours after distribution of wheat diets, the occurrence of feather peaking was the highest in SWW and the lowest in the SGW treatment. The poorest feather condition was recorded in the SWW treatment. Total feed intake was the highest in the C treatment, while the intake of wheat diet and the ratio wheat diet intake/total feed intake was the highest in the SGWI treatment. We concluded that sequential feeding with whole wheat had detrimental effect on behaviour of laying hens probably due to long period of access to wheat used in this work. It is therefore suggested that wheat should be used either ground or presented on shorter time sequence. The time access should be reduced when whole wheat is used.