The following trial confirms once again the importance of consumption time and its effect on liveability and plumage. The trial was carried out on ground pens with a litter of wood shavings (Steenfelt et al, 2001) and using un-debeaked hens. It consisted of comparing the performance and behaviour of hens receiving a commercial feed, with or without access to maize silage, pea-barley silage or carrots (table 4). At 54 weeks, the mortality was 15.3% for the control group and 1.5%, 2.5% and 0.5% respectively for the other diets. The results show “that hens fed roughage had better plumage due to a lower rate of feather pecking.