The value of environmental resources to domestic hens: a comparison of the work-rate for food and for nests as a function of time
Twelve Isa Brown hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) were trained to open a locked door for access to a pen containing an enclosed nest box (‘nest test’) and to return to a home pen containing food, water, litter and a perch (‘home test’). The door was connected to a computer-controlled load cell, which recorded work exerted […]
Consumer demand under commercial husbandry conditions: practical advice on measuring behavioural priorities in captive animals
In recent years, consumer demand studies have been used to objectively quantify the value that captive animals place on environmental resources. Considerable progress has been made in the development of effective methodologies to assess what resources are valued under controlled experimental conditions, but few of the findings from these studies have been implemented in commercial […]
The use of demand functions to assess behavioural priorities in farm animals
The use of demand functions to identify the behaviours most important to animals has been advocated widely. The principle is to place increasing cost on the opportunity to perform several behaviours and subsequently to rank these behaviours according to the change in their performance as a function of cost; this change is described by the […]
Ferrets’ (Mustela putorius furo) enrichment priorities and preferences as determined in a seven-chamber consumer demand study
Knowledge of species-specific motivation and preferences for enrichment options is necessary to put in place an appropriate enrichment plan. This knowledge is currently lacking for ferrets. Therefore, seven female ferrets were consecutively housed in a seven-chamber closed economy consumer demand set-up consisting of a corridor that was connected to six enrichment chambers (EC) and an […]