EChook News/ New research unlocks mystery of human-animal relationships
From Poultry Hub
New research unlocks mystery of human-animal relationships
Thursday, 19 October 2006
A Poultry CRC research project is beginning to unlock the mysteries of human-animal relationships in egg production systems.
As part of a collaboration between the Animal Welfare Science Centre in Melbourne and Ohio State University in the US, Poultry CRC PhD student, Lauren Edwards hopes to demonstrate that increased fear of humans in laying hens has detrimental effects on both productivity and welfare.
“I hope to identify specific human behaviours that influence the fearfulness of laying hens - speed of movement by humans, loud noises, and so on,” says Lauren.
“Implications for industry may involve creating guidelines for working in sheds to reduce hens’ fear of humans, which may improve productivity and make working with the hens more pleasant.”
The Project Leader, Professor Paul Hemsworth from the University of Melbourne, believes that human-animal relationships in the animal industries are probably the most important factors affecting animal welfare.
“They’re probably more important than conventional housing and husbandry practices and there are clearly effects on animal productivity,” says Paul.
“Fear of humans, which varies markedly in the livestock industries, substantially affects both the stress responses of animals as well as their productivity, with variation in fear of humans often accounting for up to 20% of the variation in productivity between farms.
“This suggests that there are excellent opportunities to improve bird welfare and productivity and Lauren's research is currently exploring this area within the egg industry.”
Lauren’s time in Ohio, which involved living in a trailer next to the laying sheds, revealed significant differences between Australian and American farms.
“US farms had significantly more birds per shed, as many as 180,000, so the farmers were spending less time in the shed per bird and making a lower number of interactions per bird,” explains Lauren.
“A high number of human-animal interactions, such as approaching the cage with hands or face, working in the aisles, etc, were associated with lower fear levels in the hens.
“Additionally, as the duration of noise in the shed increased, due to air hoses or leaf blowers used for cleaning for example, fear levels increased.”
