查看文章

Free-living hens roost on branches in trees at night, and laying hens in aviary systems or cages provided with perches also make extensive use of these for night-time roosting. It is therefore suggested that roosting on perches is important to the hens and that domestic hens should be provided with perches in order to promote welfare. However, no study has addressed the question of motivation for roosting. In the present experiment, we studied undisturbed roosting behaviour and the reaction of commercial laying hens when roosting on perches was thwarted. Fifty-two adult hens (Lohmann Selected Leghorn, LSL) were kept in two groups of 26 hens in litter pens with perches at heights of 23, 43 and 63 cm. Behaviour was observed for 60 min starting at lights-off, registering the number of hens on each perch level. The hens started to get onto the perch immediately and within 10 min after lights-off, more than 90% of …