An individually fitted physical barrier device as a tool to restrict the birds? access to certain environmental areas: Can their use alter behavioral responses?

PELLEGRINI S.; MARIN R. H.; GUZMAN D. A.

Louisville

Congreso; 2015 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting; 2015

Social interactions have been extensively studied in poultry in a varietyof environmental situations. Many studies allowed full social contactsbetween birds, but there are others in which the interactions are testedthrough barriers (wire mesh or glass), precluding birds to get full socialcontact. Thus, a situation where, according to their needs, some birds canget access to physical contact with conspecifics while others cannot, wouldbe useful to expand the testing options for social interaction studies. Wedeveloped an individual physical barrier device (IPB) that is fitted on thebirds to prevent them from passing across boundaries of metal mesh whileIPB free birds can easily pass (delimiting their ambulation areas). Theprototypes showing greater efficacy consisted of a small metal bar placedin the bird?s back perpendicular to the sagittal plane that slightly exceedsthe body width, held by a harness fitted by 2 elastic fabric bands around thewings? base. To be useful, the IPB should allow natural birds´ movementswithout affecting the expressions of behaviors (non-invasive). Thus, theaim of this study was to assess whether the IPB may alter adult Japanesequail behavioral responses using 4 classical but different test situations:Open-Field, Runway, Time Budget in Home Cage, and Sexual Interactions.Open-field ambulatory behavior was affected 1 h but not 7 d afterIPB was fitted, suggesting that 7 d (or less) are required to habituate to thedevice. After that period, IPB fitted birds showed no differences in any ofthe behaviors registered in the other 3 test situations when compared withbirds that do not carry it. Findings suggest that after a brief habituation, theIPB does not affect main behaviors in adult quail. Thus, their use would beadequate to assess social interactions where IPB fitted birds are confinedto certain areas while their IPB free counterparts can freely ambulate, getaccess and potentially interact with them. Its application could be expandedif an IPB device is also found suitable for other poultry species.