Disturbance of resting behaviour of broilers under different environmental conditions

•Disturbances of resting birds are common in all situations tested.•Elevated platforms reduce the proportion of physical disturbances between broilers.•Duration of resting bouts increase when resting takes place on a platform. Resting behaviours make up a large part of the daily time budget of broilers. However, in intensive broiler production systems disruptions of resting behaviours occur, where resting individuals get disturbed by active individuals. Such interruptions of resting behaviour may negatively affect the welfare of the birds but also disturb important functions of sleep related for instance to restoration and growth. This study investigated if a lower stocking density or the provision of separate resting places in the form of elevated platforms would result in less disruption of resting patterns of fast-growing broilers. Three different treatments were used, one with an elevated platform, one with lowered stocking density and a control setting. A randomized block design was used, consisting of six blocks, giving six to eight replicates of each treatment. Depending on treatment, 422-497 broilers (Ross 308) were kept per pen. Data on duration of resting bouts, occurrence of disturbances and position in pen during resting were collected on days 20 and 34 of age. An overall effect of treatment x position was found on duration of resting bouts both during day (P