Colour as a stimulus for the choice of the nesting site by laying hens

Abstract

Synopsis The preferences of two groups, each consisting of 80 Columbian Rock laying hens, for colour, height of nest from the floor and nest order where a choice was available, were determined. One group was chosen at random, the other was made up of birds that had a more highly developed colour preference as determined at an early age (1 to 12 d). Separate analyses of variance for each group and each level of nest set confirmed that colour significantly affected the choice of nesting site in the group pre‐selected for colour response. Both groups showed very high significant differences between means and between variances in regard to levels. The effect of level of the nest set and the effect of colour and colour nest order combinations were more pronounced in the pre‐selected group, which fact could be an indication of mutual dependency in sensitivity to certain stimuli.