General Behaviors and Perching Behaviors of Laying Hens in Cages with Different Colored Perches
General Behaviors and Perching Behaviors of Laying Hens in Cages with Different Colored Perches
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DOI：
10.5713/ajas.2011.11366
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发表时间：
2012-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Bao, J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Chen, D. H.;Bao, J.
颜色是栖息特性之一。本研究旨在调查不同群体规模(放养密度)下蛋鸡的一般行为和栖息行为，了解蛋鸡夜间栖息颜色(黑色、白色或棕色)的喜好。试验选用390只海兰褐产蛋鸡，随机分为3个处理：单独组(G1)、4只蛋鸡组(G4)和8只蛋鸡组(G8)。每组30个重复。将G1、G4和G8组母鸡放入试验笼中，同时设置三种颜色的栖息地，并在新的笼子中进行4天的驯化。将鸡转移到试验笼内后的第5天，用红外摄像机记录下鸡的行为：8：00~10：00；14：00~16：00；19：00~21：00；23：30~0：30。收集和分析母鸡在各个时间段的行为，并记录母鸡午夜在试验栖息地上的位置。结果表明，群体规模(放养密度)对蛋鸡除探索行为外的大多数一般行为都有显著影响。在不同的时间段，大多数的一般行为有很大的差异。在夜间对栖息颜色的偏好测试中，母鸡对白色、黑色或棕色的栖息没有表现出明显的偏好。对于栖息行为，个体中黑色栖息地的栖息时间和从一个栖息地转移到另一个栖息地的频率高于白色或棕色栖息地。在G4组，与黑色或棕色栖息地相比，母鸡白天在白色栖息地上花费的时间更多，在夜间转移的时间更频繁。在G8组中，从白色栖息地上跳下的频率更高。结果表明，尽管笼子中的群体大小对大多数一般行为有显著影响，但我们发现，在本研究所测试的不同群体大小中，笼养蛋鸡并没有表现出对栖息颜色的偏好。
Color is one of the perch properties. This study was conducted to investigate the general behaviors and perching behaviors in laying hens under different group size (stocking density), and to understand the perch color (black, white or brown) preference of hens during the night. A total of 390 Hyline Brown laying hens was used, and randomly allocated to three treatments: individual group (G1), group of four hens (G4), and group of eight hens (G8), respectively. There were 30 replicates in each group. The hens in G1, G4 and G8 groups were put into the test cages in which three colored perches were simultaneously provided and allowed for four days of habituation in the new cages. Hens behaviors were recorded using cameras with infrared light sources for the following periods: 8:00 to 10:00; 14:00 to 16:00; 19:00 to 21:00; 23:30 to 0:30 on the fifth day after transferring the birds into the test cages. The behaviors of hens in every time period were collected and analyzed, and hens positions on the test perches during mid-night were recorded. The results showed that, group size (stocking density) had significant effect on most of the general behaviors of laying hens except exploring behavior. There were great differences in most of the general behaviors during different time periods. In the preference test of perch color during night, the hens showed no clear preference for white, black or brown perches. For perching behaviors, perching time and frequency of transferring from one perch to another was higher on black perches than on white or brown perches in individual groups. In G4 groups, the hens spent more time on white perches during daytime and more frequent transferring during night compared with black or brown perches. The frequency of jumping upon and down from white perches was higher in G8 groups. It can be concluded that although the group sizes in the cage significantly affected most of the general behaviors, we found that no preference of perch color was shown by the caged laying hens in the different group sizes tested in this study.