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Severe feather pecking (SFP) in chickens is a detrimental behaviour with possibly neurochemical deficits at its base. Recent neurological studies depicted conflicting results on the role of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in the development and display of feather pecking. We studied brain monoamine levels and behaviour in domestic chickens divergently genetically selected on...
Domestic chicken lines of the White Leghorn type differing in their level of feather pecking were developed by divergent genetic selection specifically on feather pecking behavior. We determined parameters of heart rate variability to elucidate the relative activation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems during rest and stressful situations. A total of 48 hens were tested in 8 batches. Segments of 2 min were extracted from electrocardiograms recorded by radio‐transmitter implants, before (basal undisturbed conditions) and during physical restraint and a social test. Under basal conditions mean distance between R‐waves were shorter in the low and high lines compared to the control. During physical restraint, stress reactions [reduced root of the mean squares of successive differences (RMSSD), reduced high frequency (HF), high low frequency (LF/HF) and low vagal‐sympathetic effect (VSE) compared to basal levels] were significant in all lines. During the physical restraint the high feather pecking (HFP) line reacted significantly stronger than control (CON) and low feather pecking (LFP) line. During social test the LFP line reacted different than the other two lines. Seemingly birds from LFP conceived the social test as less stressful than birds from the CON and HFP lines. From this it follows that (1) physical restraint generally induced higher stress reactions than the social test and (2) genetic selection for higher levels of feather pecking increased the autonomic nervous system reaction to physical restraint whereas selection against feather pecking has reduced the response to increased social contact.
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