The purpose of this study was to determine
if playing hen calls at the feeder affects broiler chick productivity
and welfare. Hatched chicks (n = 832) were
equally placed into 16 pens. Broilers in 8 treated pens
received 3 min of hen-feeding calls once each hour during
the first 9 d of age; broilers in the other 8 pens received
no recorded hen vocalizations during the same period.
After d 9, recorded hen vocalizations ceased and all birds
were treated identically. Through 9 d of age, chicks receiving
recorded hen vocalizations had improved (P ≤ 0.05)
feed conversion ratios, and these chicks weighed more
(139.12 ± 1.52 g vs. 133.17 ± 1.59 g for control chicks; P ≤
0.01). The behavior data showed that on d 1, 4, and 7,
more (P ≤ 0.05) chicks receiving recorded hen vocalizations
were found within 0.61 m of the speaker than control