In the past 3-4 years we had the privilege to work together with Namskoggan Familie Park. This park is a 3 hour drive north from Trondheim. A park with mainly European species who are able to handle the rough climates of this country. A very progressive wildlife park that decided to take their animal care to another level.
Eventhough we focused on all species there were a couple we wanted to change the complete husbandry practices with. Two of the species we wanted to focus on where the ducks and the chickens. This because in summer time they were outside roaming the park but in winter time they had to be indoors. The lake will freeze, snow will fall and temperatures reach way below 0. For these animals this means a high risk of frozen feet. For birds like these they can actually lose their little feet this way. The indoor facility has a variety of different challenges. This is where space is one of them. Because the animals do not only have to be inside for 6 months they also have to share spaces with goats, little pigs and rabbits.
At Zoospensefull our focus is proactive care, we wanted to look into the needs of the species. When you look up the information about the needs of these specific species we wanted to focus on forage time was quite a dominant need they have. From there we decided to find ways to reach these needs with the tools that we had. The facility had 3 chicken exhibits, an indoor area for 5 ducks with a pond and 7 indoor areas for their, goats, guinea pigs, little pigs and rabbits. We wanted to establish better options for especially the ducks and the chickens where we wanted to see if we could reach the goal of their needs with the tools we had out there.
What a duck needs in comparison to what a chicken needs was quite a difference. Ducks forage a lot as well but very different in comparison to chickens. Beside that we had to look into what else the animals need. Thinking about proper nesting, ponds and substrates. The challenge is always that we have to make sure it is fairly easy to clean for the keepers. We want to make sure that the needs of the animals are med with a proper balance of cleaning the enclosures. This wasn’t always easy but not impossible.
At first the facility was focused on having animals inside and not necessarily with what they actually need. What happens is that animals needs are not reached and therefore focus a lot on their keepers which we sometimes see as affection but the real thing is that the animals have an exhibit which doesn’t give them the challenges they need to thrive in. The chickens where in rectangular exhibits with a lot of dust in the room. Not only was the facility not appropriate it wasn’t healthy neither for the animals or the keepers. First steps, how and where could we place the chickens? And how could we create more space for various species? We started to build 2 new areas.
Our goal was focussed on various important topics. We wanted to make an environment indoors where the health of the animals improved. We checked all the animals and looked at what the challenges were of each individual. We discovered through the substrate they were on their feet and overall condition wasn’t super good but not bad neither. Enough reason to find improvements. Chickens should be able to forage 90-95% of their day. Which is fairly easy reached outdoors but in an indoor facility this is pretty difficult. The same accounts for ducks where their needs are met a lot easier outdoors than indoors. When chickens forage this much they take care of their own beak and their nails themselves. Because they are eating and searching so much we mitigate the chances or feather plucking, overgrown beaks and nails, or in the worst cases even canabalism. The facility the ducks were in has quite some space and therefore we decided to start building 2 new indoor chicken exhibits in their area. We wanted to have a variety of substrates, different hiding spots and the chance to go away from one another without seeing each other. The outcome was great.
We added boxes where we could add a completely different substrate which allowed us to give them a more variable foraging opportunity. See photos below. We added hiding spots for the chickens to build their own nests if they wanted and give them the tools to do so. Chickens nest on the ground and not high up. This was a big chance for the facility. We created blockages for the individuals to get away from each other and took away the feeding bowls for the chickens. All we kept was their water bowls. The ducks still had plenty of space. For them we didn’t need to do much beside some changes in substrate and the way they fed their ducks. Ducks are filter feeders and it is important to give them their food mixed with a lot of water to do so. This is a direct welfare increase. Before we changed this the ducks would eat some dry food and go to the water bowl. Now it was entirely different.
With having everything set on this side of the indoor facility our focus now became the opposite side. We created an area for the first 2 groups of chickens. Now our goal was to create an area where we could have the little pigs, 2 flemish rabbits and the last chicken group all together. To do so we first had to clean the whole place and take away all nest boxes from the walls. We wanted to do a thorough clean to have a proper start. For us to be able to give each individual the needs they need we had to add some platforms for the clicken’s to go to because the rabbits and pigs would be on the ground. We knew the pigs would be making it pretty messy but at the same time this gave a specific enrichment opportunity for the other species. We also had to make sure that separating all species would be a possibility and giving the rabbits and chickens a chance to go away from the pigs. This also allowed us to give each species some extra nutrition if needed or keeping a proper check to the individuals when separated from one another. Therefore we didn’t want to take away the little gates in between the 3 facilities. After we had done this it was time to move the animals to their new area. Locomotion and foraging time improved drastically. There was no dust anymore and it seemed like we really activated the animals in a positive way.
Through some creative ways of thinking and looking at the animals needs we at Zoospensefull were able to create an environment for many species where they had a higher chance to thrive in. Not only did we look into the needs of the chickens, all animals who were housed in the indoor facility in winter time were given more space and more opportunities to thrive. The goal was reached.
Beside the changes in the facility we had build a full enrichment program according to the species they had. Badger, Red foxes, Arctic foxes, Lynx, Brown bear and of course, European Moose, Red dear, Fallow Dear, Sheep, European otters and a variety of smaller species. All based on the animals needs. Do you want to see some of the documents we created for them to implement?
Become a Member of our Patreon and discover more about the enrichment program at Namskoggan Family Park in Norway and download some of their enrichment sheets.
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