We tested the novel cross of old local breed Deutsches Lachshuhn and layer White Rock, as well purebred Lachshuhn, for their suitability dual-purpose chickens under 100% organic husbandry conditions, compared performance welfare with two crosses New Hampshire × Bresse which are already established in Germany. Chicks were reared mixed-sex groups until slaughter males at 15 or 18 weeks life. Data...

In an experiment with 288 laying hens from a commercial strain (Hy-line W36), the effect of partial and total replacement of soybean meal, corn grain, wheat grain and wheat bran with dried tomato pulp (DTP) on performance and egg quality was determined. In the 12 week experiment, hens (27 to 38 weeks of age) were allocated to four dietary treatments being: DTP0, DTP50, DTP100 and DTP150 of 72 b...

the aim of this study was to investigate the effects seaweeds gracilariopsis persica in diets on performance and tsh, t3 and t4 hormones in serum of laying quail. a total of 112 laying quails were randomly allocated into four dietary treatments (diets containing 0, 1, 3 and 5% seaweed) with 4 replicates of 7 birds each. the birds were fed on experimental diets for 12 weeks. eggs were collected ...

A corticosterone model was used to study the effects of chronic and repeated stress during the rearing phase on physiology, the onset of lay and performance of laying hens in the subsequent laying period. Two hundred and seventy Hy-line brown layer pullets were reared in environmentally controlled battery cages. At 7, 11, and 15 weeks of age birds were exposed for 1 week to the following treatm...

Sodium bentonite can bind to dietary pigment and decreases yolk color scale. Sodium bentonite is one of the main parts of Formycine® Gold, the effect of different levels of Formycine® Gold and dietary pigment on egg quality, egg yolk color and performance criteria of laying hens from 26 to 34 week of age were studied. One hundred ninety two Hy-Line hens were divided into 24 groups of 8 birds ea...

The deposition of dietary supplemented folic acid (FA) into the chicken egg is likely regulated by its absorption in the intestine. Therefore, factors affecting the intestinal transport of FA in the laying hen may influence the level of egg folate concentrations. To this end, a series of experiments using intestinal everted sacs were conducted to characterize the different aspects of the intest...

Carotenoids are important dietary constituents in birds. They serve as pigments and play numerous physiological roles in both the laying hen and developing embryo. However, factors determining the absorption of carotenoids and their allocation to different functions are numerous and complex, and causal relationships are generally poorly known. Our objective was to determine the degree to which ...

1. A total of 257 farmers with free ranging laying hens (organic and conventional) in Switzerland, France and The Netherlands with 273 flocks were interviewed to determine the relationships between the genotype of the hens, management conditions and performance. 2. Almost 20 different genotypes (brands) were present on the farms. In France, all birds were brown feathered hens laying brown egg...

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...