Finding signs of happiness in chickens could help us understand their lives in captivity

AUGUST 2, 2019

by Mary Baxter,, The Conversation

When animal welfare campaigner Ruth Harrison published a book in 1964 called Animal Machines, there was a public outcry. Her vivid descriptions of post-war intensive farming started a discussion about animal welfare that led to new guidelines for safeguarding animals in human care. From this, the "Five Freedoms" were born.

They stated that animals should have:

Freedom from hunger and thirst

Freedom from discomfort

Freedom from pain, injury or disease

Freedom to express normal behaviours

Freedom from fear and distress

The Five Freedoms are used as a way to assess animal welfare around the world, but they've been criticised for their focus on limiting suffering rather than giving animals a good environment to live in. The Farm Animal Welfare Council revisited these standards in 2009 and asked a new question that has shifted the way we think about animal welfare. Does this animal have a "life worth living?"

It's no longer enough to know if an animal is suffering, we also need to know if it's happy. But in the absence of a big toothy grin or a wagging tail, how do we do that for a chicken?

Those studying long-domesticated animals with expressive features are at an advantage. We know that dogs are happier when they wag their tail towards the right. We know that rats laugh when they are tickled, and we know which facial expressions mice, rats, rabbits, horses and sheep pull when they're pain free. But we don't yet have a positive behaviour marker for chickens—and we need one.

Continued

Animal welfare initiatives improves feather cover of cage-free laying hens, new study shows

Date: May 16, 2016

Source: University of Bristol

Recognized welfare outcome assessments within farm assurance schemes have shown a reduction in feather loss and improvement in the welfare of UK cage-free laying hens, according to the findings of a study from the AssureWel project by the University of Bristol, RSPCA and the Soil Association.

In the UK, cage-free egg-production systems account for 49 per cent of all eggs produced. Almost all of these farms are farm assured under the RSPCA's Freedom Food Scheme and some are certified to the Soil Association organic standards.

The two-year study, published in Animal Welfare, by the AssureWel project partners, which includes academics from the University's School of Veterinary Sciences examined the results of farm assurance assessor observations of feather loss in hens on RSPCA monitored Freedom Food and Soil Association members' farms using the AssureWel programme and other industry activities aimed at reducing feather loss.

In 2011 the RSPCA's Freedom Food and Soil Association farm assurance schemes introduced welfare outcome assessment into their annual audits of laying-hen farms. Feather loss was assessed on 50 birds from each flock on a three-point scale for two body regions: head and neck (HN) and back and vent (BV).

To support the observations, assessors were trained in feedback techniques designed to encourage change in farmer behaviour to improve welfare. In addition, during the second year of the study farmers were asked about changes they had made, and intended to make on their farms.

Read more …