Öz
Objective: In this study, it was aimed to determine the effects of age and daytime periods on the behavioral traits of domestic Turkish geese reared in free-range production system at 7-18 weeks of age.
Material ve Methods: The study was carried out at Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Agriculture, Research and Application Farm (Atakum, Samsun, Turkey). The animal material of the study consisted of 112 (8 replicates) domestic Turkish geese. The goslings were reared indoors for the first 6 weeks. Each pen of the geese reared in the free-range production system has a 9 m2 closed (1.55 birds/m2) and 33 m2 free range (0.42 birds/m2) area. Behavioral characteristics of geese such as outdoor access, running, feather pecking, feeding-drinking, resting, wing flapping and feather shaking, and preening were determined by the same observer for 4 days in a week at 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00 hours between 7 and 18 weeks of age. Behaviors were determined by continious observation method for 4 minutes at the pen level and recorded on the forms.
Results: Significant differences were determined in feeding-drinking and resting behaviors depending on age (p˂0.05). Age had no significant effect on other behavioral traits (p˃0.05). Feeding-drinking behavior was at the highest level at the 8, 9 and 10 weeks of age, while the lowest (29.73%) level was determined at the 17 weeks. Resting behavior was the highest at 8 weeks and lowest at 16 weeks. The effect of day-time periods on the behavioral characteristics was found insignificant (p˃0.05). The effect of age x day-time period interaction was also insignificant (p˃0.05).
Conclusion: In conclusion, no significant difference was observed between the behavior of the geese reared in the free-range system during the growth period according to the daytime period. Feeding-drinking and resting behaviors differed depending on age. With advancing age, these behaviors decrease proportionally. The behaviors of running, feather pecking, wing flapping and feather shaking, feather care and cleaning and the outdoor access did not differ depending on age.