Parents and early life environment affect behavioral development of laying hen chickens.

Severe feather pecking (SFP) in commercial laying hens is a maladaptive behavior which is associated with anxiety traits. Many experimental studies have shown that stress in the parents can affect anxiety in the offspring, but until now these effects have been neglected in addressing the problem of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Elske N de Haas, J Elizabeth Bolhuis, Bas Kemp, Ton G G Groothuis, T Bas Rodenburg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3948370?pdf=render