Relative preference for different pecking blocks offered as pairwise comparisons in White and Brown-feathered laying hens
Why this work is in the frame
A frame that forgets how it found something cannot be audited. These are the routes that admitted this work.
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Different commercially available pecking blocks (PBs) have varying nutrient composition, appearance, and texture. However, the relative preferences of laying hens for different PBs are unknown. We housed 120 Dekalb White and 120 Bovans Brown in twelve (360 cm x 116 cm x 60 cm) test cages from 18 weeks of age. Test cages had two identical sections, each containing a nest, scratch mat, and container. Then, three PB types (A, B, C) were offered in a series of pairwise comparisons over three, 4-week periods (Phase 1). Pairwise comparisons were repeated over three, 2-week periods (Phase 2). Block A mainly comprised mineral + grains, B of mineral + grain + molasses, and C was primarily mineral based. PB use (disappearance) was measured by weekly weighing. Pecking and scratching behaviour was measured at the individual level by live observations of 7 focal birds (per cage) once a week (thrice daily). Behaviour at the group level was measured from video cameras mounted over each PB. The number of birds pecking or scratching at the blocks was counted every 5 minutes throughout the light period using instantaneous scan sampling (total = 169 scans/day, split into 3 times-of-day (TOD): a.m., mid-day, and p.m.). For phase 1, Browns used the B block more than any other block and strain combination (p < 0.0001). At group level, pair-wise comparison affected pecking or scratching behaviour (p < 0.05). In Whites (p = 0.04), the pair-wise comparison of blocks B and C resulted in more birds pecking or scratching at C. The opposite was observed in Browns, with more birds directing pecks or scratches at B (p = 0.01). Interactions were observed between the time-of-day and PB type (White: p < 0.0001, Brown: p = < 0.0001). The Whites pecked and scratched the C block at p.m. more than any other block at any other TOD. In the Browns, pecking or scratching was directed at the B block at mid-day and a.m. more than any other block at any TOD. The two common strains of laying hens in this study preferred different types of PB (Browns preferred B, Whites preferred C) and used them at different TOD.
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Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it