poultry behavior
- 1. POULTRY BEHAVIOR Dr. Rajesh K. Yadav MVSc. Scholar ( DEPARTMENT OF LPM )
- 2. Behavior: is the way in which animal interact with its surrounding environment, both Animate Environment= (humans, other animals, plants) Inanimate Environment= (objects, places, sun, air) All acts performed by animals. (feeding, drinking, fighting, etc ). Response of poultry to a certain stimulus. INTRODUCTION
- 3. Poultry behavior Animals respond to the different stimuli Animate Environment= (humans, other animals, plants) Inanimate Environment= (objects, places, sun, air)
- 4. Behavior and Poultry production An understanding of the behavior of poultry will facilitate handling, reduce stress, and improve both handler safety and poultry welfare. Stockman, farm manager, transporter, and designer of poultry houses have to be aware of poultry behavioral information's
- 5. 1. To find and establish the optimum environmental condition. 2. To know what is going within the animal mind and understand the body language. 3. To diagnose disease (normal Vs. abnormal). 4. To examine and treat animals (how to handle poultry) 5. To achieve animal reproduction (sexual and maternal behavior). 6. To achieve poultry welfare which will lead to high performance and production. 7. To know the actual causes which induce the behavioral disorders or vices. Aim of poultry behavior
- 6. Classification of poultry behavior 1. Inherited behavior (innate, unlearned, instinctive, native) • Important for survival and conservation of species. 2.Acquired behavior (learned) • Adopt useful method for survival within their environment.
- 7. MAJOR TYPES OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR General behavior Feeding behavior Drinking Reproductive behavior Social behavior Individual recognition Communicative behavior Pecking and the peck order Perching Preening Fighting Foraging Nesting Dust bathing Responding to high ambient temperatures Resting behaviour Lightning behaviour Cannibalistic behaviour
- 8. Wary, shy animal with limited ability In the longer term good ability to adapt to different circumstances It has excellent vision and hearing Other senses – poorly developed. In the wild state it lives on the jungle floor in a thick forest uses the ground for foraging, dust bathing and nesting. At night it perches in the trees Inability to carry out innate behavior activities – frustration. General behavior
- 9. • what is the type and amount of food that poultry need, feed conversion efficiency, control of feeding. Feeding behavior • Successful mating. • Survival of young chicken. Reproductive behavior • Knowledge of floor space and stocking density are important for poultry production Social behavior
- 10. chickens inherently know how to peck and they can pick up objects i.e. eat. However, they do not know how to discriminate between what they should or should not eat Poultry are able to adapt to different types of feeders very easily Meat strains voluntarily consumed a volume of food that approached the capacity of the gastrointestinal tract. Nir et ah (1978) Egg strains tended to eat in accord with metabolic needs. Nir et ah (1978) Feeding behavior
- 11. Feeding patterns in laying hen populations directionally selected for high and low efficiency of feed utilization. Braastad and Katie (1989) Low efficiency line spent more time pecking their feed, walking, and pacing and were more fearful than efficiency Social factors also influence feeding behavior. Tolman, 1964; Hughes, 1971;
- 12. Chickens initially approach the water because they are attracted to some physical aspect of it. Once they have learned where to find their water, the drinkers should be adjusted for depth and height to ensure that spillage is kept to a minimum. The recommended depth is up to 1 cm and the height of the lip of the trough level with the bottom of the birds’ wattles. Important features of drinkers is color contrast e.g. the yellow and red of bottles. Water consumption increases with egg production and with temperature. Drinking behavior
- 13. ASM in Males: 16 weeks vary with management, breed strain, nutrition and lighting programs. Females will usually crouch more frequently for younger males that, in turn mate more often. Higher socially ranked males mate more frequently initially, but this advantage is short lived. Reproduction behavior
- 14. Most mating occurs after mid- afternoon. Increasing day length will stimulate semen production although sufficient is produced on normal day length. Males will mate many times during the day but many of the latter mattings will be dry.
- 15. Fowls are a gregarious species with an elaborate social behavior They maintain personal space by communication via postural changes. Important signals are associated with the position of the head and the relative angles of the head and the body to other birds. Social behavior
- 16. They maintain contact with flock mates by sight up to intermediate distances and by vocal communication at longer distances or if out of sight. The wild and/or feral male establishes a territory with his harem. Subordinate - adopt a subordinate
- 17. There are a number of factors that influence social behavior Individual recognition Communication Pecking and the peck order
- 18. Fowls recognize each other by appearance based on the shape of the comb, wattles and head generally. Only very abrupt, major changes result in a failure to recognize flock mates that have been altered. However, they forget each other fairly quickly. Members of flocks that are broken up forget each other within 3 to 4 weeks. Individual recognition
- 19. Commonly used are food calls, predator alarm calls, pre- and post- laying calls and rooster crowing. Chicken distress calls draw immediate attention from their broody hen. The clucking calls of the broody hen to her brood will result in all of the chickens gathering close to her. They will respond to these calls even played as a recording. Fowls communicate also with others by displays and changes in posture such as head up or head down, tail up or tail down, or feathers spread or not spread. Displays play an important part in mating behavior. Communication
- 21. There is some evidence of pre hatching interactions between hens and chicks. Embryos and hens begin to vocalize the day before hatching and do so more and more often as hatching approaches. If an embryo begins to give a distress call, the hen vocalizes or moves on the nest. Chicks that had not been exposed to the sound or sight of a hen ran to a box containing a hen. Vision does, however, appear to play an important role in helping chicks recognize their mother hen. HEN-CHICK RELATIONSHIP
- 22. Recently hatched chicks do not typically show any competitive behavior until after three days of age. By 16 days of age, fighting to determine the pecking order begins. Research has shown that with groups composed entirely of female chicks, the pecking order is established by the 10th week. In small groups, the order is typically established earlier, around eight weeks. With groups of males, the social order may remain unresolved for many weeks. Some early research has shown that certain chicks within a brood develop leadership roles. CHICK-TO-CHICK RELATIONSHIP
- 23. Pecking and the peck order
- 24. Pecking as a skill is recognized as being species specific for fowls. They peck to escape from the shell, to feed, to drink, to obtain and Keep personal space etc. Main purpose of pecking is for eating which is a precisely tuned movement of the head and neck. Beak trimming changes the relationship between the top and bottom beak and, in so doing changes their ability to peck. They can no longer pick food particles from hard, flat surfaces and, consequently, food and water troughs must carry an adequate depth of food and water to ensure that the birds are able to obtain a sufficient quantity of both.
- 25. Genetic – Some strains are more docile this characteristic Responds to selection pressure. Experience – Chickens know instinctively how to eat, but they do not know what to eat or where to find it. Age – Certain behavior is not expressed until the chickens reach appropriate ages. Examples are development of the peck order and reproduction behavior. Environment – High light intensity tends to increase activity in very young chickens – encouraging them to seek food and water. Older birds -cannibalism Factors governing behavior responses
- 26. Individuals will copy others – imp. Part of the learning process. When a bird sees another pecking at something, it will copy, thus learning what to eat, and where to find food (and water). Fowls are highly adaptable and become conditioned to many and management situations. They are good at visually discriminating tasks and tend not to generalize, i.e. they stay at the task at hand without becoming bored or becoming side-tracked. This limited flexibility means that they adapt to intensive forms of housing very easily and quickly. Learning ability
- 27. Inherent protective mechanism against ground predators. Commercial stock do not necessarily seek to use perches Layer and breeder replacements can be trained to better use nests thus reducing the number of floor eggs Inclusion of roosts or perches – reduce the number of floor eggs To provide a place of escape from harassment from pen-mates during periods of light. Roosting and perching
- 28. Preening is a bird's way of grooming its feathers to keep them in the best condition. Inherent behavior - to maintain feather condition. While preening, birds remove dust, dirt, and parasites from their feathers and align each feather in the optimum position The uropygial gland, or preen gland, is an essential part of preening Preening behavior
- 29. Males and females have an elaborate courtship sequence prior to mating. It consists dancing with a series of short, quick steps around the female and vocalizing throughout the entire movement. In a free-living situation females will commence mating behavior as young as 18 weeks. High status birds crouch less frequently than do lower status birds. Broodiness describes the changed state in the hen when egg laying ceases and the incubation of the eggs and subsequent mothering of the chicks begins. Courtship and broodiness
- 30. Hatching synchronization and vocalization Just prior to hatching the chickens commence vocalization – stimulus for the synchronization of the hatching Synchronization enhanced if the eggs are in contact with each other. Clicking sounds is an essential factor for hatching synchronization
- 31. 1. Seeking a place to lay a quite protracted activity as she becomes restless, and paces about giving pre-laying calls and showing characteristic body postures. In litter houses she will often examine the walls and corners. Domestic hens prefer to lay in nests containing loose material that they can settle into, molding the material with their bodies and feet, and that they can manipulate with their beaks. It is important for pullets to have access to nesting boxes before they start to lay. Birds are mimics, and the first layers become the teachers for the remaining pullets in a flock. Nesting behavior
- 32. Because of the restrictions - suffer frustration display of non-adaptive behavior. Train the birds during the growing phase to use platforms off the ground. All nests should be at floor level at the start of laying and raised progressively once production has started and the birds are using the nests. All attractive floor-nesting sites should be eliminated Nesting behavior in cages
- 33. Chicks start fighting when they are only a few weeks old. They are already starting to establish their rank in the flock. This fighting often continues until they reach maturity and the pecking order is well established. Sometimes fights occur among adult birds. This can occur when a member of the flock becomes tired of its position in the social hierarchy and decides to challenge a higher-ranking bird. fights between males tend to be more violent and are more likely to result in injury or death. Fighting
- 34. In the wild, jungle fowl spend 61% of their time foraging. Foraging behaviors include pecking and scratching at potential food sources, as well as looking for and sampling possible food sources. Providing chickens with a complete feed eliminates the need for foraging in order to obtain nutrients, but the hens will continue performing this behavior. Although finding food is not the ultimate goal of the foraging behavior in domesticated fowl, researchers have not yet been able to determine the motivation for this behavior. Foraging
- 35. Dust bathing is the act of rolling or moving around in the dirt to cleanse the skin and feathers of parasites, dead skin, and other skin irritants. It also helps prevent the buildup of the oil from preening. When chickens do not have access to dust baths, they will nonetheless go through the motions of dust bathing. In behavioral studies, hens have shown a willingness to work to gain access to material for dust bathing. Dust bathing
- 36. Chickens can tolerate cold weather better than hot. Chickens cannot sweat—they cool themselves by dunking their beaks in cold water or flapping their wings to air out their feathers. They may also pant when they are desperate to cool down. Responding to high ambient temperatures ( Penting)
- 37. Broilers rest in lying, sitting, or standing position. During the light period of the day, time spend for resting is divided into many short periods of sitting and lying. Despite of light duration the time spent for resting and lying has increased up to 80-90% of the whole day in an intensive indoor environment. Resting time is relative with the age of broiler chickens. with increased age broilers spend more time lying. RESTING BEHAVIOR
- 38. Understanding lighting behavior of broiler is very important because it serves as one factor on how to properly manage broiler in lighting management. Poor management in light can also cause animals to become stress and can cause decrease on productivity of chicks. LIGHTING BEHAVIOR
- 39. Occurrence of feather pecking and usually occurs in cannibalistic overcrowding behavior , overheating, lack of feed nutrients, excessive light, injured or dead birds left in the flock Cannibalism is a problem that is associated with large poultry flocks where the birds kept in close confinement peck at associated birds. This can result in significant mortality within the flock It will also cause a decrease in egg production as the hen pecked birds become stressed. CANNIBALISTIC BEHAVIOR
- 40. Environmental enrichment strategies are used to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of poultry, Aimed at increasing opportunities for birds to engage in natural behaviors, and decreasing potentially harmful, abnormal behaviors, such as severe feather pecking. Offering the chickens environmental enrichment in form of string bunches or sand boxes has been shown to reduce the incidence of feather pecking Give the chickens some lucerne hay which offers the chickens plenty of opportunity to pick and explore. Environmental enrichment
- 41. Fear in poultry This fear response is a powerful emotional state that may influence the welfare and productivity of the birds The initial fear experienced by these birds may be due to a lack of familiarity with humans, but this may develop into a specific fear of humans over time when exposed to unpredictable, sudden or aversive human contact.
- 42. Problem for owner- Egg eating Aggressiveness Feather pecking and Cannibalism Hysteria Vacuum nesting Vacuum dust bathing Behavioral problems
- 43. Foraging 25 Walking 13 Resting 10 Standing 7 Feeding 18 Wing stretching 1 Dust bathing 2 Aggressive 3 Drinking 3 Running 5 Preening 7 OTHER 11 Behavior of laying hens in a deep litter house: proportion of time spent in different activities on the litter Foraging Walking Resting Standing Feeding Wing stretching Dust bathing Aggressive Drinking Running Preening OTHER
- 44. Applied Animal Behavior science Volume 124, isssues3-4 pages 97-103, May 2010 Resting Behavior of Broilers in Three Different Rearing systems.PDF Fraser, A.F. and Broom, D.M. 1990. Farm Animal Behaviour and welfare. Third edition. Bailliere, Tindall, London. Jordan, Third edition. Bailliere, Tindall, London http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/range556/appl- behave/projects/chicken-cannibalism.html Peter Lewis and Trevor Morri : Poultry Lighting. https://www.academia.edu/22369263/ANIMAL_SCIENCE_101 REFERENCES
- 45. https://www.poultryhub.org/all-about-poultry/husbandry-management/poultry- behaviour https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-behavior/normal-behaviors-of- chickens-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003257911933562X https://www.thepoultrysite.com/genetics-breeding-2/genetics-and-traits/poultry- behaviour https://www.msdvetmanual.com/behavior/normal-social-behavior-and- behavioral-problems-of-domestic-animals/behavioral-problems-of-chickens
- 46. Al-Rawi, B., and J. V. Craig, 1975. Agonistic behavior of caged chickens related to group size and area per bird. Appl. Arum. Ethol. 2:69-80. Al-Rawi, B., J. V. Craig, and A. W. Adams, 1976. Agonistic behavior and egg production of caged chickens: genetic strain and cage size effects. Poultry Sci. 55:796-807. Appleby, M. C, 1985. Developmental aspects of nest site selection. Pages 137- 143 in: Proceedings 2nd European Symposium on Poultry Welfare, Celle, Germany. Appleby, M. C, and B. O. Hughes, 1989. Cages modified with perches and nest sites for the improvement of bird welfare. World's Poult. Sci. J. 46:38-40. Appleby, M. C, B. O. Hughes, and G. S. Hogarth, 1989. Behavior of laying hens in a deep litter house. Br. Poult. Sci. 30:545-553. Appleby, M. C, S. N. Maguire, and H. E. McRae, 1985. Movement by domestic fowl in commercial flocks. Poultry Sci. 64:48-50.
Editor's Notes
- #11: The normal practice is to place paper on the floor of their accommodation and to sprinkle a small quantity of feed on that for the first 24 hours. The paper is usually removed after about 3 days. chick-type feeders for the first 7 – 14 days.
- #14: Ppt,
- #22: https://poultry.extension.org
- #23: In a scenario in which there are two sources of heat, only one of which is turned on, chicks gather around the one turned on. If that heater is turned off and the other turned on, chicks move to the other heat source. In such a scenario, some chicks repeatedly respond sooner than others. A few of these leaders have been reported to leave the group under the warm heat lamp and go to a chick lagging in the cold so that the chick will follow the leader to the heat source
- #25: Poultry hub.
- #29: This gland is found near the base of the tail and produces an oily, waxy substance that helps waterproof feathers and keep them flexible. While preening, birds spread this oil to each feather so they are evenly coated and protected.
- #30: Broodiness, by hormonal mechanisms controlled genetically.
- #43: Aggression and feather pecking or plucking are the two most common behavioral problems in chickens. They may be related and possibly have similar underlying components, including stress, overcrowding, and competition over resources such as food. Both conditions can be managed by addressing the underlying problem and in some cases by removing the instigator. Providing enrichment and changing the social structure by removing or adding individuals may help as well. In rare cases, aggression can advance to cannibalism ( see Cannibalism in Poultry). Broilers and free-ranging chickens are more likely to show these problems because egg-laying chickens in mass production are usually confined to small groups.