Pilot: insect larvae as environmental enrichment; Finding the best method to provide insect larvae as environmental enrichment to laying hens

Abstract

Feather pecking is a maladaptive behaviour caused by a restriction in behavioural repertoire. By providing environmental enrichment to chickens, they are able to perform behaviour to better adapt and cope with stressors. An example of enrichment in laying hens is supply of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae. The goal of this pilot study was to compare the effects of provision of live BSF larvae to dead BSF larvae on pullets. In addition, the second goal was to compare a transparent dispenser to a non-transparent dispenser. The purpose of these comparisons was to assess which combination of dispenser type and content had the most effect on active behaviour of the pullets. The most effective combination will be used as enrichment in the main experiment to investigate the effects of BSF larvae provision on feather pecking in laying hens. Twenty-eight one day old chicks were randomly housed in four pens. During testing days two different dispenser conditions were placed in the pen. With the help of video data, observations were done on two chicks per pen for one hour after giving the dispensers. After each day the remaining larvae in the dispensers were weighed to calculate average consumption. The results showed a significant difference in larvae consumption from dispensers with live larvae compared to dispensers with dead larvae. Furthermore, the results showed significantly more active behaviour towards a transparent dispenser containing live larvae compared to a non-transparent dispenser containing dead larvae. it seems that the chickens in this experiment performed the most active behaviour towards a transparent dispenser containing live larvae. Providing live larvae in a transparent dispenser would probably have the most effect on active behaviour when used as environmental enrichment.