Journal
POULTRY SCIENCE
Volume 93, Issue 4, Pages 794-798Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.3382/ps.2013-03549
Keywords
laying hen; welfare; behavior; movement; kinematics
Categories
Funding
- California Department of Food and Agriculture [09-0854]
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Two states in the United States now have legislation requiring that laying hens be provided with sufficient space to perform particular behaviors. To provide a framework for translating these performance standards into a space requirement, kinematic analysis was used to measure the amount of space needed for White Leghorn hens to stand, turn around 180 degrees, lie down, and wing flap. Hyline W-36 hens (n = 9) were marked on the tops of their heads and the tips of both wings and 3 toes with black livestock marker. Each hen was then placed in a floor pen (91.4 x 91.4 cm) and filmed using 2 high-speed cameras. The resulting images were processed using a software program that generated 3-dimensional space use for each behavior. Because none of the hens lay down in the test pen, the 2-dimensional space required for lying was determined by superimposing a grid over videos of the hens lying down in their home cages. On average, hens required a mean area of 563 (+/- 8) cm(2) to stand, 1,316 (+/- 23) cm(2) to turn around, 318 (+/- 6) cm(2) to lie down, and 1,693 (+/- 136) cm(2) to wing flap. The mean heights used were 34.8 (+/- 1.3) cm for standing, 38.6 (+/- 2.3) cm for turning, and 49.5 (+/- 1.8) cm for wing flapping. However, space requirements for hens housed in multiple-hen groups in cage or noncage systems cannot be based simply on information about the space required for local movement by a single hen. It must also incorporate consideration of the tendency of hens in a flock to synchronize their behaviors. In addition, it must include not just local movement space but also the space that hens may need to use for longer-distance movements to access resources such as food, water, perches, and nest boxes.
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