Fig 1.
Birds housed in the environment containing environmental enrichment (EE).
(A): Step platform, (B): Straw bale, (C): Laser spots.
Fig 2.
(1): Top view with dimensions of the lower base, (2): Section with dimensions of the upper base and of the steps, (3): Elevation, (4) Perspective.
Table 1.
Experimental ethogram.
Table 2.
Frequency (%) of each behaviour observed for broiler chickens as effects of the treatments.
Fig 3.
The effect of age on the frequencies (%) of behaviours performed in the NEE and EE treatments.
(A): Drinking, (B): Dust bathing, (C): Play fighting. See more information in the supplementary material.
Table 3.
Frequency (%) of each behaviour observed for broiler chickens as effects of age.
Fig 4.
Frequencies (%) of behaviours associated with the provided environmental enrichment only.
(A): Straw bales behaviour frequencies–Lying around (F5,14 = 17.15, P<0.0001), Pecking (F5,14 = 9.76, P = 0.0004), and Being on top (F5,14 = 11.24, P = 0.0002). (B): Step platforms behaviour frequency–Using step platforms (F5,28 = 12.03, P<0.0001). (C): Laser projectors behaviour frequency—Chasing and/or pecking at light spots (F5,14 = 13.51, P<0.0001). (D): Associate environmental enrichment behaviour frequencies.
Table 4.
Frequency (%) of each behaviour observed for broiler chickens as effects of time of day.
Table 5.
Frequencies of the modified touch test and of scores in the grab test of broiler chickens housed in environments with and without enrichment at 42 days.
Table 6.
Frequencies (scores) of pododermatitis and dorsal cranial myopathy in broiler chickens housed in environments with and without enrichment.