Table 2. The feather scores on different body parts for free-range hens.
The number and percentages of sampled hens within each group for each feather score category of six body parts (back of the neck, chest, back, wing, tail, vent) of free-range hens from different rearing treatments (control, novelty, structural) and ranging patterns (indoor, low outdoor, high outdoor) at 64 weeks of age. A score of 4 indicates the most feather coverage and a score of 1 the least, based on the scoring system of Tauson et al. (2005). N = 95 for control, N = 109 novelty, N = 103 Structural, N = 94 indoor, N = 109 low outdoor and N = 104 for high outdoor groups. A ‘-’ is given when no birds within any treatment group had that score.
| Feather location | Variable | Category | Damage score n (%) | χ2, df, P | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Neck (back only) | Rearing enrichments | Control | – | 14 (14.74) | 6 (6.32) | 75 (78.94) | 26.50, 2, <0.0001 |
| Novelty | – | 0 (0) | 6 (5.50) | 103 (94.5) | |||
| Structural | – | 2 (1.94) | 0 (0) | 101 (98.06) | |||
| Ranging | Indoor | – | 8 (8.52) | 9 (9.57) | 77 (81.91) | * | |
| Low outdoor | – | 8 (7.34) | 2 (1.83) | 99 (90.83) | |||
| High outdoor | – | 0 (0) | 1 (0.96) | 103 (99.04) | |||
| Chest | Rearing enrichments | Control | – | 49 (51.58) | 13 (13.68) | 33 (34.74) | 6.88, 2, 0.03 |
| Novelty | – | 36 (33.03) | 23 (21.1) | 50 (45.87) | |||
| Structural | – | 37 (35.92) | 26 (25.25) | 40 (38.83) | |||
| Ranging | Indoor | – | 45 (47.87) | 20 (21.28) | 29 (30.85) | 33.26, 2, <0.0001 | |
| Low outdoor | – | 58 (53.21) | 18 (16.51) | 33 (30.28) | |||
| High outdoor | – | 19 (18.27) | 24 (23.08) | 61 (58.65) | |||
| Back | Rearing enrichments | Control | – | 7 (7.37) | 27 (28.42) | 61 (64.21) | 55.43, 2, <0.0001 |
| Novelty | – | 0 (0) | 1 (0.92) | 108 (99.08) | |||
| Structural | – | 1 (0.97) | 9 (8.74) | 93 (90.29) | |||
| Ranging | Indoor | – | 2 (2.13) | 11 (11.70) | 81 (86.17) | * | |
| Low outdoor | – | 2 (1.83) | 17 (15.6) | 90 (82.57) | |||
| High outdoor | – | 4 (3.85) | 9 (8.65) | 91 (87.5) | |||
| Wing | Rearing enrichments | Control | – | – | 14 (14.74) | 81 (85.26) | 0.42, 2, 0.81 |
| Novelty | – | – | 14 (12.84) | 95 (87.16) | |||
| Structural | – | – | 12 (11.65) | 91 (88.35) | |||
| Ranging | Indoor | – | – | 14 (14.89) | 80 (85.11) | 2.84, 2, 0.24 | |
| Low outdoor | – | – | 17 (15.6) | 92 (84.4) | |||
| High outdoor | – | – | 9 (8.65) | 95 (91.35) | |||
| Tail | Rearing enrichments | Control | – | – | 19 (20.0) | 76 (80.0) | 4.70, 2, 0.10 |
| Novelty | – | – | 11 (10.09) | 98 (89.91) | |||
| Structural | – | – | 13 (12.62) | 90 (87.38) | |||
| Ranging | Indoor | – | – | 19 (20.21) | 75 (79.79) | 5.13, 2, 0.08 | |
| Low outdoor | – | – | 14 (12.84) | 95 (87.16) | |||
| High outdoor | – | – | 10 (9.62) | 94 (90.38) | |||
| Vent | Rearing enrichments | Control | 1 (1.06) | 13 (13.68) | 5 (5.26) | 76 (80.0) | * |
| Novelty | 0 (0) | 1 (0.92) | 0 (0) | 108 (99.08) | |||
| Structural | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 5 (4.85) | 98 (95.15) | |||
| Ranging | Indoor | 0 (0) | 6 (6.38) | 7 (7.45) | 81 (86.17) | * | |
| Low outdoor | 1 (0.92) | 4 (3.67) | 2 (1.83) | 102 (93.58) | |||
| High outdoor | 0 (0) | 4 (3.85) | 1 (0.96) | 99 (95.19) | |||
Notes.
*
Chi-square tests were not performed due to insufficient data within each scoring group.