When feathers were plucked, a higher number of feathers
were eaten than rejected, irrespective of the chemical
treatment. This was not the case in anti-peck coated
feathers. Birds plucked the anti-peck coated feathers, but
reduced their consumption, indicating that they do not
want to experience the effect, whichever that may be, after
ingesting such feathers. For a potential victim it does not
matter if the feather is rejected or eaten, the feather is
pulled out of the skin. This may indicate that the antipeck
spray was not an effective agent to inhibit feather
manipulation (picking, grasping, pulling, plucking) in the
experimental setting. However, the high number of feathers
eaten in the other treatments suggests that gustatory
factors play a role in the consumption of feathers in the
present experiment. It could, however, be argued that laying
hens were kept individually and were bored. When
white synthetic string devices were offered to individually
caged hens, these devices were pecked at and manipulated,
but remained in place and were not eaten (unpublished
data).