Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The chicken meat production sector is expanding at a significantly faster rate compared to other meat sectors and is now producing over 72 billion chickens annually for meat, driven by rising consumer demand for affordable protein sources with lower fat content. This makes chicken meat a crucial and sustainable food source for vulnerable populations. Intensive poultry farming is also expanding quickly on a global scale. Sustainable broiler production involves not only maximizing productivity but also ensuring the welfare of both the birds and humans, as well as safeguarding the environment.
Enhancing poultry housing with environmental enrichment can lead to long-term improvements in animal welfare. This research was an observational study aimed to examine the relative preference and resting and other comfort behaviours such as sleeping, preening, mating, and dustbathing of male and female broiler breeders on slats, as well as on the litter area, during the critical laying period of 27 to 29 weeks of age. The study was conducted using behavioural video data collected between March and April 2025, corresponding to the birds’ 27th, 28th, and 29th weeks of age. The findings highlight that the floor type plays a significant role in shaping comfort behaviour, with slatted areas generally supporting more resting, preening and some range in sleeping while higher mating and dustbathing occurred almost exclusively on litter, but observations were limited to narrow birds aged 27 to 29 weeks, which may not be sufficient to get a clear result. Sleeping behaviour was observed more frequently and higher proportion on slats than on litter, and in fact leaving no spare space on the slats. The variations in results of the sleeping behaviour may be influenced by the availability of limited slat space. There were some sex-related behavioural variations in some behaviours, though these could have been caused by either behavioural element being performed to a different level or due to the lower number of males, or the findings are limited by the short observation period. The findings indicate that housing design has a direct significant impact on the birds' ability to express their natural behaviours, especially the proportion of slatted to litter areas. And suggest that providing more slatted area space may not only support comfort behaviours like sleeping, resting and preening but also lower welfare concerns associated with overcrowding, factors that significantly impact broiler breeder management efficiency. Further research is needed to improve housing systems that effectively support broiler breeders’ biological needs to express their natural behaviours while also meeting practical realities of commercial farming. Understanding and enhancing these behavioural needs by providing appropriate slats with spaces is essential not only for improving animal welfare but also for promoting sustainable poultry production.