Effect of diet composition and feed form on the behaviour of Isa Brown laying hens

The effect of dietary fibre on the behaviour of laying hens was investigated by offering two diets, one with a lower fibre and one with a higher fibre concentration. Rice hulls were included at 100 g/kg of the high fibre diet and protein meal was about 180 g/kg of the low fibre diet. Each of the diets was offered in two forms, mash or pellets. Feeding, pecking, escape and freeze behaviours were altered by diet and feed-form and the interactions suggest that time spent feeding declines with increased energy concentration of the diet. The lowest incidence of feeding was observed with low-fibre pelleted treatment. A lower incidence of feeding was paralleled by an increase in pecking and associated behaviours, although factors other than diet clearly contributed to some of the variation in social pecking. Pecking activity directed towards coloured objects did not appear to be affected by colour. These observations suggest that earlier reports of changes in cannibalism due to dietary manipulations are linked to reciprocal changes in the time that birds spend on feeding relative to their other daily activities.