The welfare of broilers is strongly dependent on the litter material because they spend their life in contact with it. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of alternative litter materials on broiler behaviour. Two hundred eighty-eight 1-day old male broiler chicks were used. Chicks were placed in pens each having different litter material (Wood shavings (WS), paper waste sludge (PWS), sepiolite (S), the mix of 25% paper waste sludge & 75% sepiolite (25PWS+75 S), the mix of 50% paper waste sludge & 50% sepiolite (50PWS+50 S) and the mix of 75% paper waste sludge & 25% sepiolite (75PWS+25 S)). Broilers in the pens were recorded with a camera on the same day in a week during 6 weeks’ trial. When total behaviour was assessed from 1 to 41 days of age, the percentage of sitting behaviour was the highest in the WS group and the percentage of resting behaviour was the lowest in the groups of S and WS. It can be suggested that PWS, which is a waste product, does not have a negative effect on natural behaviour and welfare of broilers and it can be used alone or mixed with S as a litter material.

肉鸡的福利很大程度上取决于垫料，因为它们一生都与垫料接触。本研究的目的是确定替代垫料对肉鸡行为的影响。使用了 288 只 1 日龄雄性肉鸡。将小鸡放在每个具有不同垫料材料（木屑 (WS)、废纸污泥 (PWS)、海泡石 (S)、25% 废纸污泥和 75% 海泡石 (25PWS+75 S) 的混合物）的围栏中， 50% 废纸污泥和 50% 海泡石 (50PWS+50 S) 以及 75% 废纸污泥和 25% 海泡石 (75PWS+25 S) 的混合物。在为期 6 周的试验中，在一周内的同一天用照相机记录了围栏中的肉鸡。当评估 1 至 41 日龄的总体行为时，WS组坐姿百分比最高，S组和WS组静坐行为百分比最低。可以建议，作为废物的 PWS 对肉鸡的自然行为和福利没有负面影响，它可以单独使用或与 S 混合用作垫料。