@article{2631,
  author = {S Rettenbacher and R Palme},
  title = {Biological validation of a non-invasive method for stress assessment in chickens},
  abstract = {Non-invasive methods to monitor adrenocortical activity need thorough validation.Besides analytical issues, the ability of the chosen test system to detect smallchanges in hormone concentrations triggered by stress perception must beevaluated. In this study, we biologically validated a previously established enzymeimmunoassay (EIA) for corticosterone metabolites (CM) in chicken droppings.Adult laying hens were subjected to one hour of transport and in another experimentto 10 min of restraint. Droppings were collected subsequently after eachstressor, over 36 h in total. Additionally, we analysed droppings that were collectedafter the birds first arrived at the experimental site and encountered unfamiliarhousing conditions. Transporting the hens caused significantly increasedmean CM concentrations for 3 h (328 nmol/kg droppings; p = 0.02) compared tobaseline values (101 nmol/kg), whereas after 10 min of restraint, elevated levels ofCM were not detected (166 nmol/kg; p = 0.87). When chickens were confrontedwith the new environment, CM concentrations stayed significantly elevated overthe whole 36 h sampling period ( gt; 313 nmol/kg; p},
  year = {2009},
  journal = {Berliner und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift},
  volume = {122},
  pages = {8-12},
  month = {01/2009},
  publisher = {Schlütersche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG},
  address = {Hannover},
  issn = {0005-9366},
  doi = {10.2376/0005-9366-122-8},
  language = {English},
}