Those authors observed that active birds
performed more ground pecking behavior. In contrast,
Savory et al. (1999) found that birds involved with feather
pecking decrease the rate of ground pecking behavior.
Wood-Gush, (1987) reported that R light increases tail
wagging frequency compared to that of B light, which is
consistent with the present results and may be due to the
visibility of companion birds under longer wavelengths.
Banks and Koen, (1989) found that the wing flapping
behavior is more common in frustrated or conflicted birds
and is expressed in the corner of the pen. We found that
wing flapping behavior was not affected by either the
monochromatic or the combined light color. Our results
provide clear indications that light color influences the
performance and behavior of laying hens.
In conclusion, our results indicate that Hy-line brown
laying hens reared under combinations of monochromatic
lights (14 h R and 2 h G light daily) had higher egg production
and better feed conversion efficiency. Moreover, the
R light treatment increased ground pecking, ground
scratching, and tail wagging behaviors, whereas B light
decreased these behaviors and more birds perched. Therefore,
the combined light colors did not adversely affect the
bird’s behavioral needs. Acombination of LED light colors
(R→G) would be comparable with monochromatic R light
and could be applied to increase egg production in laying
hens.