Kelly Drake

Hens using the outdoor range display better plumage condition suggesting lower incidence of injurious feather pecking (Chielo et al. 2016; Rodriguez-Aurrekoetxea and Estevez 2016). However, ensuring that the majority of the flock utilizes the range has been difficult. Therefore strategies such as range enrichment are required to induce more birds to use the range and encourage natural behaviour. A ...

An observational study conducted on three commercial layer farms showed that environmental enrichment increases number of birds on the range (see Dekoning et al. in this APSS Proceedings). In the same study, we aimed to determine if plumage damage score is different between birds found inside versus outside sheds. The farms were stocked with HyLine Brown flocks (all beak-trimmed); Farm-1 & Far ...