Light incubation found to affect chick enrichment behaviour
Warm shelters mimic maternal care, reducing stress and unwanted behaviours.
A new study has demonstrated the benefits of incubating eggs in light to the development of chicks’ future behaviours.
Chicks hatched from eggs that were incubated in light conditions were more likely to engage in environmental enrichments, such as shelters.
Researchers from the Roslin Institute studied groups of eggs incubated in either light conditions or dark conditions. After the chicks hatched, some of these chicks were given access to a small, dark shelter in their pen.
The researchers then observed how these chicks behaved in the days and weeks after they hatched.
All of the chicks used the sheltered spaces to rest within, rest against and perch upon. However, it was the chicks which had been exposed to light while in the egg that made the most use of the sheltered area.
The dark, warm shelters are designed to mimic maternal care in a chick’s first days and weeks of life. Researchers suggest this could reduce stress and unwanted behaviour, such as injurious pecking.
Providing chicks with a shelter meant they were less active, rested more and, when they grew older, they increasingly engaged with the shelter.
While light incubation does not affect when individual chicks hatch, researchers believe light-dark cycles during incubation might synchronise the hatching time of a clutch. Birds’ light-sensitive receptors regulate their daily rhythms, and are responsive even before hatching.
Observations also suggest that female chicks incubated in light conditions may weigh more when by four weeks of age, when compared to females incubated in darkness.
Louisa Kosin, from the Roslin Institute, said: “Understanding the impact of light during incubation on early life behaviours in chicks provides an opportunity to influence their brain development, behaviour and welfare – all of which could have benefits for their health and productivity.
“Many factors influence hatching, including light cues, temperature, sounds and activity from nearby hatching chicks.”
Professor Simone Meddle, also from the Roslin Institute, added: “We have shown that light exposure during incubation shapes early-life behaviour. Further, larger studies could investigate the feasibility of light during incubation, and the provision of sheltered enrichments for chicks, in industrial settings.”
The full study can be found in the journal Poultry Science.
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