ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2016
Effects of Dark Brooders on Behavior and Fearfulness in Layers.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multifunctional elevated platforms for improving thermoregulation, litter quality and welfare in broiler chickens.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Welfare of broilers on farm.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2023Article
- Differences among domestic chicken breeds in tonic immobility responses as a measure of fearfulness.PeerJ · 2023Article
- Farm Environmental Enrichments Improve the Welfare of Layer Chicks and Pullets: A Comprehensive Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Why-Oh-Why? Dark Brooders Reduce Injurious Pecking, Though Are Still Not Widely Used in Commercial Rearing of Layer Pullets.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Effects of Key Farm Management Practices on Pullets Welfare-A Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- The light response in chickens divergently selected for feather pecking behavior reveals mechanistic insights towards psychiatric disorders.Molecular biology reports · 2022Article
- Early life environment affects behavior, welfare, gut microbiome composition, and diversity in broiler chickens.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Resting behavior of broilers reared with or without artificial brooders.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Prenatal and Early Postnatal Behavioural Programming in Laying Hens, With Possible Implications for the Development of Injurious Pecking.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Review
- Analysis of the brain transcriptome in lines of laying hens divergently selected for feather pecking.BMC genomics · 2020Article
- Effects of Dark Brooder Rearing and Age on Hypothalamic Vasotocin and Feather Corticosterone Levels in Laying Hens.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2020Article
- Effects of Maternal Care During Rearing in White Leghorn and Brown Nick Layer Hens on Cognition, Sociality and Fear.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2019Article
- A review of environmental enrichment for laying hens during rearing in relation to their behavioral and physiological development.Poultry science · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chicks require heat to maintain body temperature during the first weeks after hatch. This may be provided by dark brooders; i.e. , horizontal heating elements equipped with curtains. The objective was to test effects of rearing layer chicks with dark brooders on time budget and fearfulness. Behavioral observations were performed during the first six weeks of age. Three different fear tests were conducted when the birds were age 3-6, 14-15 and 26-28 weeks. During the first four days, brooder chicks rested more than control chicks whereas they spent less time drinking, feather pecking and on locomotion ( p ≤ 0.009). On days 16, 23, 30 and 42, brooder chicks spent less time on feather pecking, locomotion and fleeing ( p ≤ 0.01) whereas foraging and dust bathing occurred more often on day 42 ( p ≤ 0.032). Brooder birds had shorter durations of tonic immobility at all ages ( p = 0.0032), moved closer to the novel object at age 15 weeks ( p < 0.0001), and had shorter latencies to initiate locomotion in the open-field test at age 28 weeks ( p < 0.0001). Results support the suggestion that dark brooders can be a successful method of reducing or preventing fear and feather pecking in layers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.