Social facilitation between commercial broilers and Nigerian indigenous chicks and its effect on their welfare

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate how social facilitation between two chicken breeds could affect their welfare. Sixty chicks each of a commercial broiler (CB) and Nigerian indigenous chicken (NIC) breed were used for this study. At four days of age, the birds were randomly assigned into three treatments namely: T1 – singlestrain CB (10 birds), T2 – single-strain NIC (10 birds) and T3 – mixed-strain (5 CB and 5 NIC) each having three replicates. Feed intake and weight gain were measured from the 1st to the 4th week of age. Behavioural observations were undertaken between 09:00 h – 10:00 h for three consecutive days per week from the 2nd to 7th week of age. At the end of the 7th week, six birds per treatment were randomly selected for test of fear (tonic immobility) and level of stress (heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, H:L). Data collected were subjected to multivariate analysis using SPSS (version 21). A higher percentage (P T3 > T2. CB gained more weight compared to NIC. Body weight gain was similar in the SS compared to MS. In conclusion, MS management system had a positive influence on the welfare of both breeds.

Keywords

• behaviour
• feeding
• drinking
• sitting
• heterophil/lymphocyte ratio
• indigenous chickens
• social facilitation
• tonic immobility