AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE OCCURRENCE OF SPONTANEOUS-ALTERNATION BEHAVIOR IN THE DOMESTIC HEN

Spontaneous alternation behaviour (SAB) refers to the tendency for ani mals to alternate their choice of arms in successive runs of a T- or Y -maze. Despite the apparent reliability of the phenomemon in the labor atory rat, there has been little examination of SAB in other species. Previous studies in domestic fowl have shown no evidence of SAB, altho ugh it was inferred that regular handling might reduce alternation beh aviour. The present experiment used two groups of six adult hens, with one group receiving a handling treatment prior to the maze trials. Th e hens were given six runs per day for 9 days in a T-maze in which one arm was red and the other green, with colour balanced for treatment. It was shown that the number of 'looks' made down the arms of the maze was positively correlated with alternation rate, indicating that deci sion-making processes may be involved in alternation behaviour. Genera lly, low levels of alternation were shown, but two hens performed abov e chance levels of alternation and three hens performed below this lev el. There was no effect of handling treatment on alternation rate. It is suggested that species differences in the level of alternation perf ormed may reflect the primary exploratory modality of the animal conce rned. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.