Captive animals are susceptible to chronic stress due to restricted space, lack of hiding places, presence of visitors, or the lack of resources that promote physical and mental stimuli. In birds, chronic stress can promote...
Litter material and stocking density were evaluated on welfare-related variables and productive performance in broilers. Male chicks (n = 744, “Ross 308” strain) were raised on either tezontle (TEZ) or wood shavings (WS) litter, with...
Two trials were conducted to study the effect of feeding barley silage on the behaviour and performance of beak-trimmed laying hens. In each trial, 20 hens and 2 roosters were housed in each of eight...
Recent studies suggest that cognitive bias could constitute a novel and valid measure of animal welfare. Although interest for a link between personality and cognition is growing, no study to date investigated whether a cognitive...
Despite their prevalent use amongst avian species, particularly in Budgerigars, the relationship between mirror use and social behaviors is in need of elucidation. After establishing social behavior measures (e.g., agonistic and pair-bond data) in a...
Social species in captivity may face allostatic overload due to artificial grouping and other social constraints. In rescue centres, groups of psittacines are constantly mixed due to the arrival and/or release of individuals; this procedure...
The presence of a social partner may significantly contribute to coping with stressful events, whereas dyadic separation generally increases glucocorticoid levels and, thereby, might also affect immune function and health. To study the covariation between...
This article will describe alterations made by the University of Glasgow to increase the welfare of our Zebra finches by providing them with a more complex environment to engage with. It will describe how we...
As the use of enrichment in zoos has become a standardized husbandry practice, the continued improvement of enrichment programs should be concomitant with empirical validation of those practices. The role of scent as enrichment remains...
Conservation and research efforts occasionally rely upon bringing wild animals into human care to establish breeding programs and to understand their biology. Wild‐caught birds may have husbandry requirements that differ from captive‐reared animals due, in...