doi:10.1017/S0043933913000354 The prevention and control of feather pecking in laying hens: identifying the underlying principles T.B. RODENBURG1, 2*, M.M. VAN KRIMPEN3, I.C. DE JONG3, E.N. DE HAAS4, M.S. KOPS5, B.J. RIEDSTRA6, R.E. NORDQUIST7, J.P. WAGENAAR8, M. BESTMAN8 and C.J. NICOL9 1Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre, Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands; 2Behavioural Ecology Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands; 3Livestock Research, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, The Netherlands; 4Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands; 5Department of Psychopharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) and Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.082, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands; 6Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands; 7Emotion & Cognition Group, Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL Utrecht, The Netherlands; 8Louis Bolk Institute, Hoofdstraat 24, 3972 LA Driebergen, The Netherlands; 9Animal Welfare & Behaviour, School of Veterinary Sciences, Bristol University, Langford House, Langford, Bristol, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom *Corresponding author:
[email protected] Feather pecking (FP) in laying hens remains an important economic and welfare issue. This paper reviews the literature on causes of FP in laying hens. With the ban on conventional cages in the EU from 2012 and the expected future ban on beak trimming in many European countries, addressing this welfare issue has become more pressing than ever.