Introduction To prepare laying hens for life in cage-free aviaries, they must be reared aviaries that accustom them to the challenges of navigating a complex three-dimensional structure. Rearing vary design and contain brooding compartment which chicks are confined during first six weeks age. These compartments greatly their size complexity. The present study aimed examine impact environmental ...

A study was undertaken to test the effect of 2 commercially available probiotics on the production efficiency of broiler chickens hatched from the same breeder flock at 3 different ages (28, 43, and 57 wk). At each of the 3 breeder flock ages, 1,600 broiler chickens were hatched and randomly allocated to 1 of 4 treatments: 1) no probiotics (control), 2) probiotic 1 administered in the drinking ...

A study was conducted to determine the influence of different particle size limestone in layer diets on egg production and eggshell quality during the later stages of egg production (>54 weeks of age). Calcitic limestone (360 g Ca/kg), consisting of small (<1.0 mm), medium (1.0 2.0 mm) and large (2.0 3.8 mm) particles were obtained from a specific South African source that is extensively used i...

A feeding trial was conducted to determine whether dietary vitamin C (200 mg/kg) and vitamin E (250 mg/kg) prevent any drops in egg shell quality under heat stress in broiler breeder hens. One hundred and sixty molted Ross broiler breeders were housed randomly in an individual cage at 83 weeks of age. Four dietary treatments with forty hens and four replications per treatment were control (no a...

The relationship of albumen height (AH) to the compositions of yolks and embryos in hatching eggs from a young (30 wk of age) broiler breeder flock was evaluated during incubation. On Day 2 of incubation, egg weight, yolk weight, and yolk moisture, lipid, and fatty acid contents were determined in eggs from broiler breeders previously identified as laying eggs of either low or high AH. In addit...

Several RNA viruses such as astrovirus, rotavirus, reovirus and parvovirus have been detected in both healthy and diseased commercial poultry flocks. The aim of this study was to characterize (a) the development of the RNA viral community in the small intestines of healthy broiler chickens from hatch through 6 weeks of age (market age) and (b) the contribution of the breeder source vs. bird age...