{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T00:04:40Z","timestamp":1786665880970,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,27]],"date-time":"2022-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1643241600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001782","name":"University of Melbourne","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["The Graduate Research in Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (GRACE) scholarship"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["The Graduate Research in Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (GRACE) scholarship"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001782","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Increased environmental complexity can improve animal welfare, depending on the resources provided and use by the animal. We provided chickens either with physical items that posed no biosecurity risk and were inexpensive (balls, chains, perches and rope) (P; n = 36) or additional visual human contact (10 min daily) (HC; n = 36) compared to farm-like standard control groups (C; n = 36) with 3 pens per treatment. Additional human contact reduced fear of humans at 35 days of age, but not general fearfulness. P birds required more inductions to induce tonic immobility compared to HC and C birds at 21 days of age. However, other indicators of fear (open field test and plasma corticosterone concentration) did not significantly differ. P birds favored the woodblock for resting, and the perch but preferred to sit underneath the perch rather than on top. When pecking items were not provided, C and HC chickens redirected their pecking behavior toward the litter. Overall, there was little evidence that our physical items improved the chickens\u2019 behavioral time budget, fear, physiological stress or production. Additional human contact should be investigated in large scale experiments to ensure its effectiveness to reduce fear of humans on farm.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani12030310","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,27]],"date-time":"2022-01-27T21:59:55Z","timestamp":1643320795000},"page":"310","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Environmental Complexity: Additional Human Visual Contact Reduced Meat Chickens\u2019 Fear of Humans and Physical Items Altered Pecking Behavior"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3681-5968","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peta S.","family":"Taylor","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0211-0751","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul H.","family":"Hemsworth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Welfare Science Centre, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6015-8318","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jean-Loup","family":"Rault","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1017\/S1751731118001118","article-title":"Play behaviour, fear responses and activity levels in commercial broiler chickens provided with preferred environmental enrichments","volume":"13","author":"Baxter","year":"2019","journal-title":"Animal"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.3382\/ps\/pez581","article-title":"A novel environmental enrichment device increased physical activity and walking distance in broilers","volume":"99","author":"Meyer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Poult. 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