Simulation of maternal care to improve welfare in chickens

对于一只小鸡来说，母鸡是一个重要的榜样；雏鸟从母亲那里学到了很多东西，比如啄什么，什么时候休息，以及遇到威胁时如何表现。然而，在大型农场，让母鸡自己养小鸡在商业上是不可行的，去年在英国，大约9亿只家禽小鸡是在大型孵化器中孵化出来的，没有母鸡。以这种方式饲养的没有母亲的小鸡更可怕，更容易出现行为问题，比如啄其他鸡的羽毛和皮肤；一个非常普遍和严重的福利问题。由于商业农场无法选择自然孵化，因此本项目的目的是人工模拟一些重要的母性护理特征，从而产生健康、不那么害怕、更高福利的鸡。例如，模拟母亲在指导雏鸟啄食活动中所起作用的一种方法可能是在喂食者附近播放母亲喂食叫声的录音，以鼓励雏鸟啄食食物，而不是啄同伴的羽毛。为了开发这些母性护理的人工模拟，我将首先通过识别母性护理的特征来观察母鸡的有效行为，这些特征导致母鸡不那么害怕，福利更高。在确定了最有效的特征之后，对非孵小鸡进行小规模研究将使我能够评估人工模拟这些特征在提高小鸡福利方面是否可行和有效。最后，候选的产妇护理人工特征将被推广到商业蛋鸡养殖场，以确定福利效益是否可以大规模复制并持续到生产期结束。该项目不仅将提供对鸟类母性行为的基本新见解，而且将产生实际有效的动物福利解决方案；BBSRC的战略重点。

For a domestic chick, the mother hen is an important role model; chicks learn a great deal from their mother about what to peck, when to rest and how to behave when there is a threat. However, in large farms, allowing hens to rear their own chicks is not commercially viable and in the UK last year, around 900 million domestic chicks were hatched in large incubators and reared artificially, without a mother hen. Chicks reared without a mother in this way are more fearful and more likely to develop behavioural problems, such as pecking the feathers and skin of other chickens; a highly prevalent and serious welfare concern. Since natural brooding is not an option on commercial farms, the aim of this project is to artificially simulate a number of important features of maternal care that result in healthy, less fearful, higher welfare chickens. For example, one method of simulating the mother's role in directing chick pecking activity might be to play recordings of maternal feeding calls near to feeders, to encourage the chicks to peck at food rather than the feathers of their brood mates. To develop these artificial simulations of maternal care, I will first observe how effective mother hens behave by identifying features of maternal care that result in less fearful, higher welfare chicks. After pinpointing the most effective features, small scale studies with non-brooded chicks will allow me to assess whether artificial simulation of these features is feasible and effective in improving chick welfare. Finally, candidate artificial features of maternal care will then be rolled out onto commercial laying hen farms to determine whether the welfare benefits can be replicated on a large scale and persist until the end of the production period. This project will not only provide fundamental new insight into avian maternal behaviour, but will result in practical and effective animal welfare solutions; a strategic priority for BBSRC.