https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:2638 Visual access to an outdoor range early in life, but not environmental complexity, increases meat chicken ranging behavior Taylor, P. S. P. S. Taylor University of New England / The University of Melbourne Rault, Jean-Loup Jean-Loup Rault 0000-0001-6015-8318 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Mc Carthy, C. C. Mc Carthy University of Southern Queensland Fanning, L. L. Fanning University of New England Dawson, B. B. Dawson University of New England Schneider, D. D. Schneider University of New England Dekoning, C. C. Dekoning South Australian Research and Development Institute Elsevier text eng Not all chickens access an outdoor range when the opportunity is provided. This may be related to the abrupt change in environments from the stable rearing conditions to the complexity of the outdoor range. We aimed to prepare chickens to range by increasing the complexity of the indoor environment early in life with the intention to encourage range use. Mixed sex Cobb500 chickens were allocated to 1 of 3 treatment groups: visual access (VA) treatment provided VA to the outdoor range from day old via transparent pop-hole covers; environmental complexity (EC) treatment provided an artificial haybale, fan with streamers and a solid vertical barrier; Control treatment was a representative conventional environment. Chickens were given access to the outdoor range at 21 d of age. Behavior in the home pen was assessed in wk 1, 2 and 5 and individual ranging behavior was monitored through radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The VA chickens were more active compared to EC (P = 0.006) and Control (P = 0.007) chickens and spent more time foraging than control chickens (P = 0.036) during the first week of life. More VA chickens accessed the range area compared to EC chickens (P = 0.015). VA chickens accessed the range sooner after they were first provided access and spent more time on the range than EC and control chickens (P < 0.001). Mortality was lower in the VA treatment compared to EC (P = 0.024) and control group (P = 0.002). There was evidence that VA chickens weighed less than Control and EC chickens, however results were inconsistent between age and sex. Hence, providing meat chickens with VA to an outdoor range early in life increased activity in early life, decreased latency to first access the range and increased time on the range and lowered mortality. Future work should aim to understand the mechanism behind these changes in behavior to develop recommendations for producers to implement in commercial conditions. traw Bales; Leg Health; Performance; Space; Light http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/api/object/o:2638/download 10.1016/j.psj.2023.103079 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605 application/pdf Poultry Science 102(12) (2023) Poultry Science 102 12 1.30 MB 2023