Chicken Behaviour and Welfare

开始时间: 04/22/2022 持续时间: Unknown

所在平台: CourseraArchive 课程类别: 生物与生命科学 大学或机构: The University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学） 授课老师： Victoria Sandilands

课程主页: https://www.coursera.org/course/chickens

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课程详情

This course will explain the general principles of chicken behaviour and welfare, and the behavioural and physiological indicators that can be used to assess welfare in chickens kept in hobby flocks through to commercial farms. The focus is primarily on laying hens and meat chickens (broilers) although many of the principles will be relevant to other types of poultry. The course is likely to be of interest to people who own chickens as pets or keep a small hobby flock, commercial egg and chicken meat producers, veterinarians and vet nurses.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe avian sensory perception and motivation.
2. Explain the main behaviour patterns of poultry.
3. Define welfare and explain the bases of welfare standards.
4. Assess chicken welfare, using behavioural and physiological means
5. Understand common welfare problems of chickens.

This course is taught by staff from Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) and St David's Poultry Team.

课程大纲

The course syllabus is likely to include:

Week 1: Introduction to behaviour 

• Introduction to online learning and the course structure and content
  
• Introduction to the study of animal behaviour, domestication
  
• Behavioural development: prehatch, imprinting, learning, hormonal influence
  
• The senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch) and motivation

Week 2: Behaviour patterns of chickens: maintenance and social behaviours

• Maintenance behaviour: feeding, drinking, comfort activities.
  
• Social behaviour: communication, spacing, dominance, aggression, social spacing

Week 3: Behaviour patterns of chickens: reproductive and abnormal behaviours

• Reproductive behaviour: male (courtship and mating), female (nesting, laying and brooding)
  
• Abnormal behaviours: overdrinking, feather pecking, egg and litter eating

Week 4: Chicken welfare

• What is welfare?
  
• Ethics of meeting animals’ welfare needs
  
• Recommendations and standards used by accreditation schemes
  
• Indicators of welfare (behavioural and physiological)
  
• Is free-range always best? Challenging the perception of what is good for welfare

Week 5: Welfare problems of common production systems including hobby flocks

• Welfare of layers: cage and non-cage systems
  
• Welfare of broilers:  indoor to free range
  
• Transport, slaughter and emergency killing
  

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