Behavioural repertoire of free-range laying hens indoors and outdoors, and in relation to distance from the shed.
BACKGROUND
Access to an outdoor area is believed to allow free-range hens to express a greater behavioural repertoire. However, very little research has been done in this area. We hypothesised that the type and frequency of behaviours would differ between areas that vary in their characteristics and distance from the shed.


METHODS
This preliminary study investigated the behaviour of free-range laying hens in indoor and outdoor areas on one commercial free-range farm, through video recordings and scan sampling of focal hens, with the aim of determining their behavioural repertoire and time budget.


RESULTS
While ranging, hens spent most of their time foraging. Indoors, hens preened and rested. Behaviour in the wintergarden showed similarities to both the indoor and outdoor areas, with preening, resting and foraging behaviours. Differences were not in the main behavioural repertoire, but rather in terms of time budget, with access to the range and wintergarden encouraging exploration.


CONCLUSION
There was no difference in the types of behaviours that hens performed in the outdoor range compared with inside the shed, but access to a wintergarden and the outdoor range were favoured by the hens for foraging.
['Thuy Diep|A|A|', 'Larsen|H|H|', 'Rault|J-L|JL|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6015-8318']
D000818:Animals D001522:Behavior, Animal D002645:Chickens D005260:Female D006799:Housing, Animal D010058:Oviposition D013037:Spatial Behavior
behaviour wintergarden animal welfare chickens free-range egg production