Journal of Tianjin Agricultural University ›› 2015, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (3): 44-48.

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Rearing Pattern and Density on Animal Behaviors in Green Shell Laying Hens

WU Jie1, MA Zi-li2, XU Jia-yi3, MIAO Jin-feng3, *   

  1. 1. Animal Health Inspection Institute of Changsha, Changsha 410013, China;
    2. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of Dongyang, Dongyang 322100, Zhejiang Province, China;
    3. College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • Received:2015-04-25 Published:2015-09-30

Abstract: Based on the single factor experiment method, it is studied the effects of different rearing patterns and densities on animal behaviors in laying hens. In this study, 7 500 green-shell laying hens were randomly assigned into a free range group and 2 caged groups with low-density or high-density housing. The results show that the dispersion phenomenon, aggressive behavior and stereotyped behavior of laying hens in free range group were significantly lower than low-density group and high-density group, and the high-density group was more serious, and the foraging behavior, behavior modification of laying hens in free range group were significantly higher than low-density group and high-density group. These results indicate that different rearing patterns and densities have obvious influences on the behavioral parameters, and the increase of rearing density will seriously affect the animal behavior in laying hens.

Key words: rearing pattern, laying hen, animal behavior

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