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National Poultry Day US
ESR 9 Klara Grethen
'My research is looking at the social environment of laying hens. In Europe, we are moving towards keeping hens commercially in cage-free environments where they are kept in large groups of thousands of animals. I am investigating how these large groups affect a single hen, does it have a negative effect or is the hen simply not bothered about being in a large group?'
'Today, 19th of March, is the last day of my 1st round of experiments! On Monday, after 6 months helping me with my research, my chickens will retire, be adopted and live their lives of laying hens. What better moment to go back to key moments of their early life? The data I collected from them will allow me to show how beneficial is light during incubation: does it help reducing their fearfulness? does it reduce it for both brown and white laying hens? By focussing on early-life (up to 24 weeks old), which is a crucial phase for developing coping strategies for adulthood, I hope to understand better the mechanisms behind stress responsivity in laying hens'.
ESR 14 Endre Putyora
'Animal welfare assessment categories have been validated using many type of behavioural measures, but using sleep to assess laying hen welfare has not yet been done. My project aims to quantify sleep under normal and abnormal conditions, as a means of detecting instances of poor welfare. This will not only allow farmers to detect acute episodes of poor welfare (e.g., as a result of malfunctioning equipment) but also allow them to assess the general welfare state of their animals to see if any improvements can be made in their holding conditions'.
Last modified: Mon, 17 May 2021 11:39:03 BST
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