The effects of floor space and nest box access on the physiology and behavior of caged laying hens

Abstract

Confinement housing appears to be at the forefront of concern about laying hen welfare. This experiment examined the effects of floor space during rearing (315 or 945 cm2/bird) and adulthood (542 or 1648 cm2/bird) and access to a nest box on the welfare of caged laying hens. Measurements of the normality of biological functioning, such as plasma, egg albumen and yolk and fecal corticosterone concentrations, and heterophil to lymphocyte ratios, behavioral time budgets, mortality and efficiency of productivity, and measurement of hen preferences, such as choice behavior in Y maze tests, were used to assess hen welfare. There were no effects of treatment on physiological measurements. Hens give..