Laying hen movement in a commercial aviary: Enclosure to floor and back again

Many producers in the laying hen industry, including in North America, are phasing out conventional cages in response to consumer demands and sometimes subsequent legislation. Alternative housing systems such as aviaries are being implemented in an attempt to improve hen welfare. Aviaries provide additional space and resources to groups of hens, including a litter area on the floor. However, little is known about hen movement between tiered enclosures and floor litter areas in aviary systems. Diurnal rhythms and social attraction may result in peak times of movement that could lead to overcrowding of areas, or alternatively hen preferences may lead to some areas not being fully utilized. We monitored hen movement between tiered enclosures and litter areas, including movement on and off the outer perch, across the day at peak, mid and end of lay in a commercial aviary. Hens moved onto and off of the open litter area across the day, transitioning between tiered enclosures, outer perches, open litter areas, and litter areas under tiered enclosures. At certain times of day, there were periods of greater hen movement down to the open litter area and between litter areas. For example, more hens were typically observed exiting enclosures, jumping from perches to open litter, and traveling between open litter and litter under tiered enclosures in the morning (all P ≤ 0.001). In all but one instance, more hens were observed on open litter areas in the afternoon than at other times of day (all P ≤ 0.029). However, hen re-entry to tiered enclosures showed less circadian patterning. Hen movement was observed between areas of interest at all sampled time periods, indicating hens use all areas of the system. Further research should examine whether all individual hens do move between areas equally, including within levels of the tiered enclosure, or if crowding occurs on the outer perches or in the litter during times of peak movement.