pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Play ontogeny in young chickens is affected by domestication and early stress - PubMed

  • ️Sat Jan 01 2022

Play ontogeny in young chickens is affected by domestication and early stress

Lundén Gabrielle et al. Sci Rep. 2022.

Abstract

Play is common in young homeotherm animals and has an important role as a tentative indicator of positive states of welfare. Furthermore, during domestication play is believed to have increased in frequency in several species as part of the domestication syndrome. Here, we studied the ontogeny of play in chickens in two experiments. The first compared the behavioural development between domesticated White Leghorn (WL) laying hen chicks and ancestral Red Junglefowl (RJF) and the second compared the same between WL chicks that had experienced the stress of commercial hatchery routines and a control group, hatched under calm conditions. In both experiments, 10 groups of four chicks each from each of the groups were moved twice per week to an enriched and fully enclosed play arena, starting at day 8 and finishing day 39 or 53 after hatch. In the arena, the frequency of play behaviours was recorded during 30 min and divided into object, locomotory and social play. In experiment one, total play as well as object play was significantly more common in WL whereas locomotor and social play was more common in RJF. In experiment two, total play was significantly more frequent in commercially hatched chicks, despite that none of the sub-categories differed significantly between the groups. In conclusion, domestication as well as early stress does affect the occurrence of play in chickens, but the effects are complex and require further research.

© 2022. The Author(s).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1

Mean number of observations (± standard error) per group per 30 min of (A) total play, (B) object play, (C) locomotor play, and (D) social play at different ages in Red Junglefowl and domesticated White Leghorn chicks. Note that the scales differ between the graphs.

Figure 2
Figure 2

Mean number of observations (± standard error) per group per 30 min of (A) total play, (B) object play, (C) locomotor play, and (D) social play at different ages in White Leghorn chicks hatched in a commercial hatchery (HC) or under calm conditions (CC). Note that the scales differ between the graphs.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Smaldino PE, Palagi E, Burghardt GM, Pellis SM, Quinn J. The evolution of two types of play. Behav. Ecol. 2019;30:1388–1397. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arz090. - DOI
    1. Liu Z, Torrey S, Newberry RC, Widowski T. Play behaviour reduced by environmental enrichment in fast-growing broiler chickens. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105098. - DOI
    1. Burghardt GM. The Genesis of Animal Play. MIT Press; 2005. p. 491.
    1. Bateson P. Play, playfulness, creativity and innovation. Anim. Behav. Cogn. 2014;2:99–112. doi: 10.12966/abc.05.02.2014. - DOI
    1. Held SDE, Spinka M. Animal play and animal welfare. Anim. Behav. 2011;81:891–899. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.01.007. - DOI

Publication types

MeSH terms