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Why Do Hens Pile? Hypothesizing the Causes and Consequences.

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Frontiers in Veterinary Science
|December 28, 2020
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Recurring piling in laying hens is an unpredictable behavior causing mortality and welfare issues. Understanding its causes, from immediate triggers to evolutionary factors, is crucial for improving poultry production.

Keywords:
animal welfarecollective behaviordomesticationlaying henone welfaresmotheringvortex behavior

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Area of Science:

  • Ethology
  • Animal Behavior
  • Poultry Science

Background:

  • Piling behavior in laying hens involves abnormal aggregation, leading to smothering and mortality.
  • Recurring piling lacks apparent triggers, posing a significant concern for egg producers due to its unpredictability.
  • This behavior can result in both direct mortality (smothering) and sub-lethal consequences affecting hen welfare and production.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the ethological causes of recurring piling in laying hens.
  • To outline the potential welfare and production consequences of this behavior.
  • To propose hypotheses regarding the influence of different timescales on piling behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review considering various timescales of influence, from immediate triggers to domestication and evolution.
  • Development of four hypotheses to explain the causes of recurring piling.
  • Identification of potential welfare and production consequences.

Main Results:

  • Four hypotheses proposed: attraction/repulsion, social influence, early life experience, and maladaptive collective behavior.
  • Identified welfare consequences include heat stress, physical injury (keel bone damage), and behavioral/physiological stress.
  • Production consequences encompass mortality, reduced egg quality, and impacts on worker welfare.

Conclusions:

  • Recurring piling is a complex behavior with multifactorial causes influenced by different timescales.
  • Further research using epidemiological and modeling approaches is needed to understand and mitigate piling and smothering.
  • Addressing the causes and consequences of piling is essential for improving laying hen welfare and the sustainability of egg production.