While the Rolling Stones may have once sung about the Little Red Rooster, it appears that hens themselves may be strutting their stuff to pop music - and laying more eggs in the process.

Researchers from the National Farmers' Union and the Roslin Institute, home of Dolly the cloned sheep, found that certain types of music left farm chickens calmer and less likely to suffer illness.

Funkin' it up in the chicken shack

John Humphrys: The chicken's choice

BBC Radio One's blend of new music was found to be among the favourites with some farmers saying that one of the breakfast show's DJs, Zoe Ball, had the hens really shaking their tail feathers.

But while the hens appeared to be perfectly happy with pop, farmers reported they did not take to violins or heavy metal.

Aside from music, the hens went for incisive political questioning from John Humphrys on BBC Radio Four's flagship Today programme, the smooth tones of veteran broadcaster Jimmy Young on BBC Radio Two and London's Capital FM DJ Chris Tarrant.

Clucking for England

One farmer said that his hens had shown themselves to be wearing three lions on their breasts by enjoying coverage of the 1998 football World Cup until England were knocked out.

The research was carried out at more than 100 farms. Around 96% of the farmers said their chickens reacted favourably to some types of music.

Eggsactly what the farmer wanted

Gloucestershire farmer Charles Bourn, who has used music for a year, said: "When I play them music their performance goes up, they are healthy and it makes them grow well.

"It is all about making the environment more pleasant. They enjoy pop music, mainly Radio One or the local radio station. But they hate violin music.

"During the World Cup they enjoyed listening to the football until England got knocked out."

Research suggested that levels of illness dropped and a further 16% of the farmers said that birds laid more eggs and became less aggressive.

Tony Pexton, deputy president of the National Farmers' Union, said: "Farmers are continually looking at ways to help keep their animals content no matter how off-beat they may at first seem".

Little bit of night moosic

Previous research appears to support the findings of the latest experiments.

Investigations by German scientists found that cows appeared to produce more milk when they were given soothing waterbeds and music in their fields or stalls.

Guildo Horn: Eurovision Song Contest flop

Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik boosted production while hits from Germany's top punk band Die Toten Hosen (The Dead Trousers) had the opposite effect.

Germany's celebrated entrant in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, Guildo Horn had a suitably relaxing effect on the bovine rockers.

Many zoos in the USA have experimented with "animal enrichment" programmes which aim to change the environment to make life in captivity easier.