Abstract
Housing hens in battery cages has a profound effect on their behaviour but there is little comparative information on fearfulness in birds housed in cages and pens. Tonic immobility, a state of reduced responsiveness induced by physical restraint, is a fearpotentiated response and it was compared in pen- ( n = 24) and cage-housed ( n = 20) one-year-old White Leghorn laying hens. Susceptibility to the reaction was found to be similar in both groups. Pen-housed birds showed statistically significant shorter latencies to the first leg and head movements and significantly shorter durations of immobility (righting time) than caged birds. The results suggest that caged birds are more fearful than pen-housed ones.
Published Version
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