A study was conducted to evaluate skeletal quality and eggshell parameters of molted hens at the end of the second …
We experimented to evaluate the effect of a number of molting techniques that appeared to be less stressful than the conventional feed withdrawal (FW) method on postmolt performance. The molting techniques involved a continuous FW (T1, control group), 1 d FW followed by feeding a grape pomace (GP) diet containing 10 ppm thyroxine (T2) ad …
An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of hen BW before molt and the percentage of BW loss during molt on the subsequent performance and profitability of hens during the second cycle of production. Results revealed that profits associated with Light hens (≤1,453g, or 3.2 lb) were from 1.8¢ to 3.8¢/dozen eggs higher than …
Several dietary alternatives to feed withdrawal have been proposed to induce a molt in laying hens. This study compared the behavior of laying hens on an alfalfa crumble diet (ALC) to hens that were either in a conventional layer diet (FF) or hens that had feed withdrawn (FW) during a 9-d trial. Each treatment consisted …
An experiment was conducted using 336 White Leghorn hens (60 wk of age) randomly assigned to one of four treatments that consisted of feed removal for 4 or 10 d or no feed removal with ad libitum access to 95% corn or 95% wheat middlings molt diets that contained supplemental minerals and vitamins. At the …
Induced molting is a management practice used primarily by commercial egg producers to optimize the utilization of their layer flocks. Historically, flocks produced eggs for a laying cycle of 1 yr duration and then were sold. With induced molting, flocks are molted and returned to lay for additional laying periods, thereby spreading fixed costs over …
Two commercial strains, Hy-Line W-36 and DeKalb XL, were moved to a laying house at 18 wk of age. They were housed 6 hens/layer cage at 2 densities (361 and 482 cm2/bird) with 2 replications each per strain/density combination. The high-density treatment contained 24 hens/replication and the low-density treatment contained 18 hens/replication for a total …
The early rearing environment plays an important role in the development of many behaviour patterns and it has been shown …
1. In order to investigate the effect of perch width on perching behaviour of laying hens, two experiments in which …
This paper describes how birds move between horizontal perches at different heights with different angles separating them, using the time …
For night-time roosting domestic fowl show a strong priority for high perches. Following the anti-predator hypothesis the height of a resting site should however be more important for the fowl than roosting on a perch. Here we tested whether laying hens prefer high resting areas without perches compared to low resting areas with perches. In …
1. The EU laying hen directive, which bans standard battery cages from 2012, has implications for animal welfare, particularly since housing laying hens in extensive systems, while increasing natural behaviour and improving bone strength, is associated with a greater level of bone fractures, predominantly of the keel bone, compared to birds housed in cages. 2. …
Free-living hens roost on branches in trees at night, and laying hens in aviary systems or cages provided with perches also make extensive use of these for night-time roosting. It is therefore suggested that roosting on perches is important to the hens and that domestic hens should be provided with perches in order to promote …
Behaviour problems, such as feather pecking and cannibalism, in loose housing systems for laying hens may originate from the rearing period. Early access to perches facilitates the use of three dimensional space and therefore allows escape from threatening pen mates. In this experiment, we studied individual differences in start of perching behaviour and if environmental …
Four groups of 15 – 19 adult ISA Brown hens were studied in pens to assess the relationship between social status and use of perches and nestboxes. This was to test the hypothesis that subordinate hens use these resources more by day, for avoiding dominants, but that dominants use perches more at night, for roosting. …
The spatial distribution and behaviour of perchery housed laying hens were compared at a constant stocking density (18.5 birds/m²) in eight pens with colonies of five diferent sizes (323 birds (N = 1), 374 birds (N = 2), 431 birds (N = 2), 572 birds (N = 1) and 912 birds (N = 2)). The …
Blue-shelled eggs are gaining popularity as the consumption demand diversifies in some countries. This study was carried out to investigate …
1. Movement (frequency of changes) between inside and outside housing areas, time spent in each area, tonic immobility (TI) and differential blood cell counts were studied in relation to feather condition in laying hens of two genotypes, white (LSL) and brown (LT). 2. From 18 weeks of age, LSL and LT were kept in 4 …