== Abstract ==

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   The objectives of this study were to 1) identify determinants of poor welfare in commercial broiler chicken flocks by studying the associations between selected resource-based measures (RBM, potential risk factors), such as litter quality and dark period, and animal-based welfare indicators (ABM), such as foot pad dermatitis and lameness, and 2) establish the breadth of effect of a risk factor by determining the range of animal welfare indicators associated with each of the risk factors (i.e., the number of ABM related to a specific RBM). Eighty-nine broiler flocks were inspected in 4 European countries (France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) in a cross-sectional study. The ABM were contact dermatitis (measured using scores of foot-pad dermatitis and hock burn, respectively), lameness (measured as gait score), fear of humans (measured by the avoidance distance test and the touch test), and negative emotional state (measured using qualitative behavior assessment, QBA). In a first step, risk factors were identified by building a multiple linear regression model for each ABM. Litter quality was identified as a risk factor for contact dermatitis. Length of dark period at 3 wk old (DARK3) was a risk factor for the touch test result. DARK3 and flock age were risk factors for lameness, and the number of different stockmen and DARK3 were risk factors for QBA results. Next, the ABM were grouped according to risk factor and counted. Then, in a second step, associations between the ABM were investigated using common factor analysis. The breadth of a risk factor's effect was judged by combining the number (count) of ABM related to this factor and the strength of association between these ABM. Flock age and DARK3 appeared to affect several weakly correlated ABM, thus indicating a broad range of effects. Our findings suggest that manipulation of the predominant risk factors identified in this study (DARK3, litter quality, and slaughter age) could generate improvements in the related ABM and thereby enhance the birds’ overall welfare status.

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Document type: Article

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== Full document ==

<pdf>Media:Draft_Content_537576432-beopen715-7690-document.pdf</pdf>

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== Original document ==

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The different versions of the original document can be found in:

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* [http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03208 http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03208]

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* [http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/444347 http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/444347]

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* [http://prodinra.inra.fr/record/254919 http://prodinra.inra.fr/record/254919] under the license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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* [https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03208 https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03208] under the license cc-by-nc-nd

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* [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803]

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* [https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0032579119383932?httpAccept=text/xml https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0032579119383932?httpAccept=text/xml],

: [https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0032579119383932?httpAccept=text/plain https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0032579119383932?httpAccept=text/plain],

: [http://academic.oup.com/ps/article-pdf/92/11/2811/4541925/poultrysci92-2811.pdf http://academic.oup.com/ps/article-pdf/92/11/2811/4541925/poultrysci92-2811.pdf],

: [http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03208 http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps.2013-03208] under the license https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/

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* [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803],

: [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803/document https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803/document],

: [https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803/file/2013_Bassler_PoultryScience_1.pdf https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01129803/file/2013_Bassler_PoultryScience_1.pdf]

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* [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119383932 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119383932],

: [https://academic.oup.com/ps/article-abstract/92/11/2811/1602221 https://academic.oup.com/ps/article-abstract/92/11/2811/1602221],

: [https://animalstudiesrepository.org/farawel/18 https://animalstudiesrepository.org/farawel/18],

: [http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/444347 http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/444347],

: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135583 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135583],

: [https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/farawel/18 https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/farawel/18],

: [https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/potential-risk-factors-associated-with-contact-dermatitis-lamenes https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/potential-risk-factors-associated-with-contact-dermatitis-lamenes],

: [http://openaccess.sruc.ac.uk/handle/11262/11006 http://openaccess.sruc.ac.uk/handle/11262/11006],

: [https://air.unimi.it/handle/2434/227176 https://air.unimi.it/handle/2434/227176],

: [https://www.narcis.nl/publication/RecordID/oai%3Alibrary.wur.nl%3Awurpubs%2F444347 https://www.narcis.nl/publication/RecordID/oai%3Alibrary.wur.nl%3Awurpubs%2F444347],

: [https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/publications/potential-risk-factors-associated-with-contact-dermatitis-lamenes https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/publications/potential-risk-factors-associated-with-contact-dermatitis-lamenes],

: [https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/1983891981 https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/1983891981]

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