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Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders

Rest and sleep are important for the welfare of mammals and birds. A large part of the daily time budget of broiler chickens is taken up by resting behavior and the quality of resting is important. However, in intensive broiler production systems, disruptions of resting behaviors are common. These d...

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Autores principales: Forslind, Sara, Hernandez, Carlos E., Riber, Anja B., Wall, Helena, Blokhuis, Harry J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9360316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35958316
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.908196
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author Forslind, Sara
Hernandez, Carlos E.
Riber, Anja B.
Wall, Helena
Blokhuis, Harry J.
author_facet Forslind, Sara
Hernandez, Carlos E.
Riber, Anja B.
Wall, Helena
Blokhuis, Harry J.
author_sort Forslind, Sara
collection PubMed
description Rest and sleep are important for the welfare of mammals and birds. A large part of the daily time budget of broiler chickens is taken up by resting behavior and the quality of resting is important. However, in intensive broiler production systems, disruptions of resting behaviors are common. These disruptions of resting behavior could be negative for the health and growth of the birds. This study investigated if artificial brooders that provide a delimited and darker resting place, away from active birds, reduce disruptions of resting behavior compared to a control situation without artificial brooders. Six pens of each treatment were used in the same building, keeping 60 chickens (Ross 308) per pen. The artificial brooders were removed at 21 days of age. Data on disturbances and duration of resting bouts and activity between resting bouts were collected on 20 and 34 days of age. Also, as an indicator of the quality of rest, the animals' cognitive performance was evaluated in a spatial learning test that was performed at 11 days of age. The results showed that birds housed in pens with access to brooders have longer resting bouts (260.7 ± 5.2 vs. 132.8 ± 5.3s, p < 0.001) and are less likely to be disturbed during resting by other individuals (0.15 vs. 0.48, p < 0.001). The effect of the artificial brooders on both the duration of resting bouts and the proportion of disturbances remained after the removal of the brooders at 21 days of age. The duration of activity between resting bouts was shorter if the resting bout was ended by a disturbance (9.98 ± 1.0 vs. 61.0 ± 2.4s, p < 0.001). Birds reared with brooders were more likely to solve the spatial learning task (0.5 vs. 0.27, p < 0.01), but those succeeding were not faster at solving it. Broilers may be exposed to disrupted rest due to the lack of a dedicated resting place separated from areas with high activity. Using artificial brooders reduces disturbances but does not eliminate them. Therefore, additional changes to the housing conditions or management will be needed to prevent disturbances.
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spelling pubmed-93603162022-08-10 Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders Forslind, Sara Hernandez, Carlos E. Riber, Anja B. Wall, Helena Blokhuis, Harry J. Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science Rest and sleep are important for the welfare of mammals and birds. A large part of the daily time budget of broiler chickens is taken up by resting behavior and the quality of resting is important. However, in intensive broiler production systems, disruptions of resting behaviors are common. These disruptions of resting behavior could be negative for the health and growth of the birds. This study investigated if artificial brooders that provide a delimited and darker resting place, away from active birds, reduce disruptions of resting behavior compared to a control situation without artificial brooders. Six pens of each treatment were used in the same building, keeping 60 chickens (Ross 308) per pen. The artificial brooders were removed at 21 days of age. Data on disturbances and duration of resting bouts and activity between resting bouts were collected on 20 and 34 days of age. Also, as an indicator of the quality of rest, the animals' cognitive performance was evaluated in a spatial learning test that was performed at 11 days of age. The results showed that birds housed in pens with access to brooders have longer resting bouts (260.7 ± 5.2 vs. 132.8 ± 5.3s, p < 0.001) and are less likely to be disturbed during resting by other individuals (0.15 vs. 0.48, p < 0.001). The effect of the artificial brooders on both the duration of resting bouts and the proportion of disturbances remained after the removal of the brooders at 21 days of age. The duration of activity between resting bouts was shorter if the resting bout was ended by a disturbance (9.98 ± 1.0 vs. 61.0 ± 2.4s, p < 0.001). Birds reared with brooders were more likely to solve the spatial learning task (0.5 vs. 0.27, p < 0.01), but those succeeding were not faster at solving it. Broilers may be exposed to disrupted rest due to the lack of a dedicated resting place separated from areas with high activity. Using artificial brooders reduces disturbances but does not eliminate them. Therefore, additional changes to the housing conditions or management will be needed to prevent disturbances. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-07-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9360316/ /pubmed/35958316 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.908196 Text en Copyright © 2022 Forslind, Hernandez, Riber, Wall and Blokhuis. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Forslind, Sara
Hernandez, Carlos E.
Riber, Anja B.
Wall, Helena
Blokhuis, Harry J.
Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
title Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
title_full Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
title_fullStr Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
title_full_unstemmed Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
title_short Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
title_sort resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9360316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35958316
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.908196
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