DUSTBATHING AND PECKING BEHAVIOR IN CHICKS FROM A HIGH AND A LOW FEATHER PECKING LINE OF LAYING HENS

Feather pecking is an abnormal behaviour that often leads to extensive damage to the plumage of laying hens. Recent experimental studies hav e indicated that feather pecking may be interpreted as 'misdirected' g round pecks and/or 'misdirected' pecks associated with dustbathing. Th ese two hypotheses were tested by comparing pecking and dustbathing pr eferences of chicks from a high feather pecking line (HFP line) with t hose of chicks from a low feather pecking line (LFP line) after they h ad been given early experience of feathers. By doing so we hoped to fi nd associations between ground pecking, dustbathing and feather peckin g that might indicate causal factors for feather pecking. Pairs of nai ve chicks of both lines were 'trained' to peck, scratch and dustbathe on a skin of feathers and subsequently tested during four consecutive choice tests in which a skin of feathers and sand were presented simul taneously. As hypothesised, chicks of the HFP line pecked and dustbath ed significantly less on sand than did those of the LFP line and, furt hermore, chicks of the HFP line pecked significantly more at the feath ers of their cagemate. The chicks of the HFP line, therefore, were mor e attracted to feathers, and we suggest that early pecking and dustbat hing at feathers resulted in a more stable association with feathers i n the HFP line. Over the consecutive choice tests it generally became increasingly difficult to release dustbathing in both lines. The resul ts, therefore, indicate that the experience of sand in feather trained chicks leads to deficiencies in the perceptual mechanism that identif ies dust for dustbathing.