Both stocking rate and housing systems are main factors influencing the occurrence of feather pecking in laying hens raised in conventional cage system. This study examines the effects of different type of cage and stock density on feather pecking behaviour in hens. Total of 216 Hisex Brown hens at 16 weeks of age were randomly selected and put into 2 types of battery cages: conventional cages ...

Different types (light to heavy) of laying hens are used in practice. There are questions about the optimum level of balanced protein (BP) supply in feed for different types of hens. Therefore, a broad range of amino acids intake levels [550 to 800 mg of true fecal digestible (TFD) Lys/hen per d] was tested on heavy (Lohmann Brown Classic) and light (Lohmann LSL Classic) laying hens from 24 to ...

Heat-stress remains a costly issue for animal production, especially for poultry as they lack sweat glands, and alleviating heat-stress is necessary for ensuring animal production in hot environment. A high γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producer Lactobacillus strain was used to investigate the effect of dietary GABA-producer on laying performance and egg quality in heat-stressed Hy-line brown hens...

The aim of this study is to identify QTL associated with levels of natural antibodies in two population of laying hens. One experimental (H/L) F2 population originates from a cross (ISA Warren) between two divergently selected lines for either high (H line) or low (L line) primary antibody response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) at 5 weeks of age. Another experimental (F/P) F2 population was c...

Data collected in 2012 on 400 chickens were subjected to two-way analyses of variance to estimatebody weight, morphometric traits as well as the correlationbetween body weight and morphometric traitsin Isa Brown and Ilorin ecotypechickens. The studied morphometric traits were comb length, beak length,head length, neck length, body length, wing length, shank length, thigh length, toe length, bre...

The influence of AME(n) concentration of the diet on productive performance and egg quality traits was studied in Hy-Line brown egg-laying hens differing in initial BW from 24 to 59 wk of age. Eight treatments were arranged factorially with 4 diets varying in energy content (2,650, 2,750, 2,850, and 2,950 kcal of AME(n)/kg) and 2 initial BW of the hens (1,733 vs. 1,606 g). Each treatment was re...

The influence of water deprivation at the onset of lay on subsequent eggshell quality, fecal moisture content and blood physiology was investigated in ISA Brown pullets. Kidney and bone appearances were also determined at the end of the study. The pullets were randomly divided into 3 groups; control, dehydrated, and dehydrated+NH4Cl groups. The birds in the control group were provided a layer d...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of group size and stocking density on the welfare and performance of hens housed in furnished cage systems during summer. A total of 924 Hy-Line Brown hens were assigned to three housing systems: a standard battery cage system (control, 4 hens per cage and 398 cm per hen), two furnished systems (including perches and nest); one with a small (S...

data collected in 2012 on 400 chickens were subjected to two-way analyses of variance to estimatebody weight, morphometric traits as well as the correlationbetween body weight and morphometric traitsin isa brown and ilorin ecotypechickens. the studied morphometric traits were comb length, beak length,head length, neck length, body length, wing length, shank length, thigh length, toe length, bre...

The effects of light intensity (LI) from photostimulation to 45 wk of age on egg production parameters and egg size characteristics were examined in four layer strains. Floor housed pullets were raised in a light-tight facility from 1 d of age until housing in individually illuminated cages at 17 wk of age. At 17 wk of age, two white egg strains, ISA-White (ISA-W) and Shaver 2000 (S2000), and t...