1. An experiment was carried out to examine the suitability of using maize silage, barley—pea silage and carrots as foraging …
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Rovabio, dietary energy, and protein on performance, egg composition, egg solids, …
The feather condition and behaviour of laying hens in modified cages with elevated (28 cm above floor) and conventional (6 cm above floor) height feed troughs was measured at 32–34 and 56–59 weeks of age. Feather cover was generally better at the younger age than the older, and in cages with the elevated trough as …
Maximum daily temperatures in excess of 30ºC are common in many table egg producing regions of the world. Such temperatures …
The level of a single essential amino acid that is either deficient or in excess of requirement may result in …
The effect of drinking water source (well vs. city water) on laying hen performance was evaluated using 48 commercial layers …
The present study was conducted to determine the adverse effects of high temperature and humidity not only on live performance …
Hy-Line W-36, W-98, and Brown hens lay approximately the same number of eggs/hen housed to 80 wk; however, little is known about differences in performance during heat stress (HS). Two experiments were performed. The first experiment evaluated intestinal calcium uptake (CaT), heat shock protein-70 (HSP70) liver expression, and endocrine status in the 3 strains under …
Two experiments of 4 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangements of 4 dietary energy levels, 2 molting methods (feed withdrawal …
To approximate a commercially induced molt, feed was withdrawn (FW) from Hy-Line W-36 hens (65-wk-old) until they lost 35% of their initial body weight. Behaviors of 36 FW hens and 36 control hens were videorecorded on Days 1 to 3, 8 to 10, and 19 to 21 of FW, when FW hens reached 15, 25, …
Feed deprivation has been adopted by the commercial egg industry to induce molt because it is the easiest method to apply and produces the best results. Feed deprivation, however, raises concerns about animal welfare. Birds respond to long-term feed deprivation in three phases. The first phase lasts at most a few days, during which physiological …
The behavioral responses of laying hens to a 4-day fast were investigated. Three hundred and sixty Hyline W77 (W77) and 360 Hyline Brown (Brown) lPweek-old pullets were housed as pairs in cages in separate rooms for each stock. At 63 weeks of age, feed was withdrawn for 96 h from half of the W77 hens. …
1. The applicability of different ratios of bitter vetch seed as a new method for moult induction in laying hens …
Induced molting in egg-laying hens is an important method for maximizing hen egg production and quality as well as hen health in commercial settings; however, there is growing societal concern over its effects on hen well-being. Using individual hens as their own controls, this research examined the behavior of hens subjected to different treatments of …
In the commercial egg industry the management practice of using feed withdrawal to induce a flock to molt has been …
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 …