Associations between qualitative behaviour assessments and measures of leg health, fear and mortality in Norwegian broiler chicken flocks

摘要

Qualitative behavioural assessments (QBA) is an animal-based welfare measure that has been included in several on-farm welfare assessment protocols, including the Welfare Quality (R) (WQ) protocol for poultry. However, there is a scarcity of information about how it relates to other animal-based welfare indicators. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the associations between QBA and selected animal-based welfare indicators commonly used for the assessment of broiler chicken welfare, i.e. lameness, foot pad dermatitis (FPD), fear of humans (touch test), and mortality.