The Laying Hen and Its Environment : A Seminar in the EEC Programme of Coordination of Research on Animal Welfare, Organised by R. Moss and V. Fischbach, and Held at Luxembourg, March 11–13, 1980

The welfare of domestic poultry. particularly those kept under intensive housing conditions is a subject ~n which many. often divergent and conflicting views. are held. This divergence, may be the result either of insufficient knowledge of the facts of particular poultry husbandry systems or a differing interpretation of those facts. With regard to poultry and the laying hen in particular. there is a need to gather together a basic knowledge of avian behaviour in all the circumstances and systems of husbandry under which birds are presently being kept. That knowledge should lead to the development of interpretative and hopefully predictive theories which in turn will allow us to meet the recommendations of Article 3 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes: 'that animals shall be housed, provided with food. water and care in a manner which - having regard to their species and to their degree of development. adaptation and domestication - is appropriate to their physiological and ethological needs in accordance with established experience and scientific knowledge'. In furtherance of those objectives a small group of specialists in poultry physiology and ethology. both from within and outside the European Community met by invitation of the Commission in Luxembourg between 11 and 13 March 1980. Their objective was to discuss what is already known. and can be agreed on. of the normal physiology and ethological range of the laying hen. Front Matter....Pages I-VIII Opening Remarks....Pages 1-1 Front Matter....Pages 3-3 The Ethogram of the Domesticated Hen....Pages 5-18 To Adapt the Environment to the Bird or the Bird to the Environment?....Pages 19-42 Some Considerations Regarding Optimum Environmental Conditions for Laying Hens in Cage Management....Pages 43-64 Corticosteroids in Laying Hens....Pages 65-84 Back Matter....Pages 85-97 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 The Regulation of Dustbathing and Other Behaviour Patterns in the Laying Hen: A Lorenzian Approach....Pages 101-120 Essential Behavioural Needs....Pages 121-147 The Assessment of Behavioural Needs....Pages 149-166 Essential Behavioural Needs: The Mixed Motivation Approach....Pages 167-180 Back Matter....Pages 181-192 Front Matter....Pages 193-193 Measurement of Essential and Behavioural Needs as Provided by Present Husbandry Systems: Battery, ‘Get-Away’ Cage, Aviary....Pages 195-205 Putting Science into Practice....Pages 207-225 The Pre-Laying Behaviour of Laying Hens in Cages with and without Laying Nests....Pages 227-237 Some System Definitions and Characteristics....Pages 239-258 Moulting in the Domestic Hen (Gallus domesticus) and Its Use and Effect....Pages 259-268 Cages: How could They be Improved?....Pages 269-304 Back Matter....Pages 305-326 Closing Remarks....Pages 327-327 Back Matter....Pages 329-333