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Increasing the temperature of egg incubators by 1°C or 2°C has shown promise to help chickens cope with rising global temperatures. Now, research suggests it also makes male chicks more sociable and potentially less aggressive as adults
Life 17 January 2023Slight overheating chicken eggs during their incubation makes male chicks more sociable Getty Images/Dancu Aleksandar
Rising global temperatures mean that many researchers are looking for ways to stop farmed chickens from overheating. This could involve exposing eggs to slightly higher temperatures during incubation, with previous research suggesting promising outcomes.
However, the behavioural consequences in adult chickens of this approach are less clear, particularly in terms of how it could affect the sociability and aggressiveness of males, which influences flock well-being.
To learn more about this, Tomas Norton at KU Leuven, Belgium, and his …
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