Chicken Journal Club Advertisement:
Welcome back, everybody, for our 3rd Session of this Term!
Our next session is on the:1st November 14:00 – 15:00 [GMT]
Topic: Improving welfare by designing housing systems from a chicken’s perspective
Speakers: Alex Johny and Ariane Stratmann, Center for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits (ZTHZ), University of Bern
Short description
Aviary systems provide laying hens with a three-dimensional space that allows the performance of species-specific behaviours such as vertical movements, roosting on elevated areas and access to litter that no other housing system provides. However, the birds have to successfully navigate the aviary to access these resources that are located on different vertically and horizontally separated areas. The complex and vertical nature of the aviaries affects access to necessary resources and influences risk of keel bone fractures, which may occur due to falls and collisions within the aviary. Investigations on measures to improve the design of aviaries offer ramps as a promising solution as their provision in the laying phase reduced falls, collisions and keel fractures and increased the movement between tiers. Given the benefits of ramps for adult hens, the application of ramps in the rearing phase was studied, which revealed various welfare benefits during rearing as well as long- lasting effects into the laying phase. This talk covers the development and application of ramps in aviary systems for layers with a focus on its welfare benefits for the birds.
Papers
Norman, K. I.; Weeks C. A.; Tarlton J. F.; Nicol C. J. (2021): Rearing experience with ramps improves specific learning and behaviour and welfare on a commercial laying farm. Sci. Rep. 11, pp. 1–14 www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-88347-9
Pettersson, I. C.; Weeks C. A.; Nicol C. J. (2017): The effect of ramp provision on the accessibility of the litter in single and multi-tier laying hen housing. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 186, pp. 35–40. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159116302921?via%3Dihub
Stratmann, A.; Fröhlich E. K. F.; Gebhardt-Henrich S. G.; Harlander-Matauschek A.; Würbel H.; Toscano M. J. (2015): Modification of aviary design reduces incidence of falls, collisions and keel bone damage in laying hens. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 165, pp. 112–123. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159115000301
Stratmann, A.; Mühlemann S.; Vögeli S.; Ringgenberg N. (2019): Frequency of falls in commercial aviary-housed laying hen flocks and the effects of dusk phase length. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 2016, pp. 26 – 32.
Slack Channel for Questions:
Please sign-up have the opportunity to ask questions through our Slack channel ’live-chat: join.slack.com/t/chickenjournalclub/shared_invite/zt-g5b1sn47-1Z3dVBXuDhii1v3M7Wb7bw
Important links:
All of our social media is available with this link: linktr.ee/chickenjclub
Do you want to help us with social media content, lead a workshop and help us run the chicken journal club? Please message me back to show your interest.
