Litter lipid content affects dustbathing behavior in laying hens

Litter lipid content affects dustbathing behavior in laying hens.

Within the European Union, the provision of dustbathing material in layer housing systems will be compulsory beginning in 2012. In cage systems, food particles are mainly used as litter material and are provided on scratching mats by an automatic transporting system. However, because dustbathing is a means for hens to remove stale lipids from their plumage, lipid content of a substrate may be a...

Laying hens in aviaries with different litter substrates: Behavior across the flock cycle and feather lipid content

The tiered aviary for laying hens includes a floor litter area to promote foraging and dust bathing. Data are needed on hens' use of different litter substrates and effectiveness of substrates in removing excess feather lipids to ensure a suitable litter area. Bovans White hens were housed in commercial-style aviaries with access to one of 3 litter substrates (wood shavings, straw, or plastic t...

Influence of Rearing Environment on Development of Perching and Dustbathing Behaviour in Laying Hens

Effect of Tomato Waste Meal on Lay Performance, Egg Quality, Lipid Profile and Carotene Content of Eggs in Laying Hens

An eight week study was conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion of tomato waste meal in layer diets on laying performance, egg quality and lipid profile as a means to reduce feed cost and pollution. Four laying diets containing tomato waste meal (TWM) at four levels of 0, 3, 6 or 9% were assigned randomly to 4 groups of 40 birds divided among four replicates of 10 birds in each dietary...

Behavior of laying hens on alfalfa crumble molt diets.

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hens on an alfalfa crumble diet (ALC) to hens that were either on a conventional layer diet (FF) or hens that had feed withdrawn (FW) during a 9-d trial. Each treatment consisted of 24 hens (3 hens per battery cage), and treatment began after a 2-week ac...