Evaluation of limit feeding low - energy diets for a non - feed with - drawal laying hen molt program

An experiment was conducted using 504 Hy-Line W-36 hens (69 wk of age) to evaluate two low-energy non-feed withdrawal molt diets, each fed at three different rates. Treatment 1 consisted of feed withdrawal for 10 d (10-d fast) followed by feeding a 16% CP corn-soybean meal diet for 18 d. Treatment 2 consumed a 47% corn and 47% wheat middlings (C:WM) diet fed ad libitum for 28 d. Treatment 3 received the C:WM diet but was limit fed 54.5 grams/hen/ day (g/h/d). Treatment 4 also consumed the C:WM diet but received ad libitum access to the feed for 7 d and was limited to 54.5 g/h/d from 8 d to 28 d. Treatments 5, 6, and 7 were fed a 47% corn and 47% soy hulls diet (C:SH) using the same 3 feeding schemes used with the C:WM diet. At 28 d, all hens were fed a 16% corn-soybean meal layer diet and production performance was measured for the next 20 weeks. Hens on the feed withdrawal treatment ceased egg production by Day 8. Treatments receiving the C:SH diet did reach 0% egg production by Day 10 but laid sporadically for the remaining 18 days of the molt period. However, treatments receiving the C:WM diet never reached 0% production. Body weight loss for hens on the feed withdrawal treatment was 25.2% on Day 10 of the molt period. Hens fed the C:WM diet lost 10-15% of their original body weight, while hens fed the C:SH diet had body weight losses of 20-24% on Day 28. Hen-day egg production was different (P < 0.05) for Weeks 5 to 24, with Treatment 2 being statistically lower than the 10-d fast treatment and all treatments receiving the C:SH diet. All hens receiving the C:WM diet were lower than other treatments. No consistent differences were observed among treatments for mortality, egg weight, egg specific gravity, feed efficiency, and feed consumption during the 20-wk post-molt production period. When compared to a 10-d fast, this research indicates that a diet containing a combination of corn and soy hulls fed at varying rates is an effective nonfeed withdrawal method for molting laying hens.