162 Bulletin UASVM Animal Science and Biotechnologies, 66 (1-2)/2009 Print ISSN 1843-5262; Electronic ISSN 1843-536X The Effect of Water Deprivation on the Behavior of Broiler Chickens Elke BOONE 1 , Margot SPRENGERS 2 , Hilde VERVAECKE 1 , Hans LAEVENS 1 , Dirk LIPS 1 , Frank TUYTTENS 2 1 KaHoSL, Catholic University College Sint-Lieven, Ass. University of Leuven, Group of Ethology and Animal Welfare, Hospitaalstraat 21, 9100 Sint-Niklaas, Belgium; hilde.vervaecke@kahosl.be 2 ILVO, Department of Animal Sciences, Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Scheldeweg 68, Melle 9090, Belgium Abstract. Chronic thirst is a threat to animal wellbeing. We examined whether behavior can be a useful indicator of thirst in broiler chickens that were deprived of water for 0, 6, 12 or 24 hours. Half of the chickens was familiar with the open drinker. There were 16 pens, with four chickens in each pen, in eight treatments, in a combination of the water deprivation period and familiarity to the drinker. Each individual was observed for -30 minutes. The frequency of drinking behavior was higher in the 12 h and 24 h deprived groups, compared to the 0 h deprived groups. This difference was significant between the groups who where familiar with the drinker and those who were not. Drinking duration was higher in the 6 h and 24 h deprived groups, compared to the 0 h deprived groups. Chickens that were familiar with the drinker drank longer. The 6 h, 12 h and 24 h deprived groups started to drink earlier than the 0 h deprived groups. The groups who were familiar with the drinker, drank earlier. The frequency of explorative behavior towards the drinker was higher in the 24 h deprived groups and in the groups who were familiar with the drinker. However, this was not the case for the groups who were 24 h deprived and not familiar with the drinker. The results suggest that behavior can form an indicator for thirst in broiler chickens and that familiarity with the drinker plays an important role. Keywords: thirst, broilers, behavior, water deprivation, drinking, welfare INTRODUCTION Chronic thirst is a threat to animal wellbeing. Access to a sufficient quantity of water is necessary for a good performance of broiler chickens. In normal circumstances, adult chickens drink about 150 to 200 ml per day (Appleby et al., 2004). In broilers this can add up to 300-350 ml pro day (Tabler, 2003). MATERIALS AND METHODS We examined whether behavior can be a useful indicator of thirst. Broiler chickens were deprived of water for 0, 6, 12 or 24 hours. Half of the chickens was familiar with the open drinker. In total there were 16 pens, with four chickens in each pen (1x 1x 0,5 m), subjected to one of eight treatments, i.e. a combination of the water deprivation period and familiarity to the drinker. The experiment was performed with chickens at the age of 35 and 37 days. The behavior of the broiler chickens was recorded on video and each animal was brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk